A Small Crack in Perfection
by eternalshiva
Summary: In a modern world, Hinata was barely exposed to Naruto's constant belief in himself. Now in her mid 20s, she meets him again and discovers a crack in her careful wall of Hyuuga perfection. NaruHina / AU Modern Times. Adult themes - language, sex.
1. Past and Present

**A small crack in perfection  
**_By eternalshiva_

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

Thank you Jolly Green for the Beta ~ Poor sucker has to put up with my crazy Canadianism. =P

**AN**- I'm stuck in development for Twice Shy so this little bunny has procreated in my head into this monster. I'm not sure how long this fic will be or when I intend to update it on a regular basis. It's my "Holy fuck, I can't get Twice Shy to funk. To the AU bat cave!" story. Chapter 13 is at 50% completion but I'm bored of looking at it.

* * *

**Chapter 1  
**_Past and present_

The sound of keys jingled sharply in the cool November night as Sakura twirled them around her index finger, something she did when she had a lot on her mind. She'd developed that habit after earning her driver's licence ten years prior. The cool crisp air of the city night bit her skin unmercifully, forcing her cheeks to redden against her will. She scanned the lot of her workplace for her pink Volkswagen Beetle and quickened her pace towards it as she spotted it in the distance. She contemplated how high she would crank the heat up to clear the numbing feeling in her hands.

"What a bitch," she muttered to herself, recalling the meeting between her boss and her _new_ boss. She had been pleasantly surprised to see Hinata Hyuuga as the new head of the Hyuuga Corporation. It had been a shock to the entire company when Hiashi Hyuuga had recently stepped down due to medical reasons. Sakura had known one of his children was taking over, but she hadn't realized that Hiashi was Hinata's father.

'_The more you know...'_ she thought half-heartedly. That meeting had been a total and complete disappointment on a personal level. She had failed to become friends again with an old acquaintance. That was a first for Sakura; she'd always been quick to please and befriend anyone. Maybe not in her youth, but she had definitely improved over the years. Her job required it!

She had expressed her joy at seeing her old friend quite adamantly, but had been met with a cold and silent stare from the Hyuuga heiress in return. She did not show any signs of recognition. Something which had perplexed Sakura deeply considering how close they had been as children, before the girl had moved away. Though it was to be expected, she guessed, since they had lost touch entirely over the years. The meeting had continued to degrade after that. She couldn't tell if she had pleased Hinata or if she was going to get a dreaded pink slip in the morning, announcing she was useless.

She reached out for the handle of her car door and quickly unlocked it, slipping her long legs inside. She slammed the door shut and took a moment to lean against the leather seat. Her head bobbed a moment before slipping to the left, forcing her to look at the asphalt outside her window. She could hear the traffic outside, the city lights twinkled on the horizon and she determined that she was feeling discombobulated. Hinata had shaken her somehow. Sakura was reminded of Hinata's cousin, Neji, from back in elementary school. Cold, uncaring and emotionally retarded; much like Sasuke had been during the last year before he had left.

She sighed and pushed the key inside the ignition, the radio played softly in the background. She felt the tight pang of loneliness squeeze her heart as she thought of Sasuke. He had abandoned them several years ago, and his memory still haunted her. She hadn't heard from him since she was sixteen, but his presence had left such a huge impact on both Naruto and her in that short amount of time he had been there. She hadn't been able to let go. Sasuke had caused her a lot of unhappiness, but she was willing to wait; he was worth it in the end. Well, at least that's what she told herself. Naruto had an entirely different opinion on the subject.

Now here she was, ten years later, still bitter and miserable, wishing he'd come back. Naruto had blamed himself for her state of mind and she hadn't really tried to convince him otherwise. She wasn't entirely certain as to why she'd left so many things unsaid between them in regards to Sasuke, but she didn't regret what it had led to back then. He must've been a sucker for punishment, because regardless of all the shit she put him through, Naruto would always look at her with an affectionate and understanding smile. He was always telling her he'd catch everything she threw at him and take it in stride, anything to make her forget that night she had been thrown aside, used, and left broken by Sasuke's love.

Naruto had chased him down that time through the city; she'd never seen him so angry, so full of rage. Their fight had made the paper the next morning since they'd nearly destroyed a small part of the city with their brawl. Sasuke had barely walked away, but Naruto had been hospitalised. His spirit had been broken just as much as hers. They had cried together that day and he had promised her he would bring him back, no matter what.

She picked up her cell phone and passed her thumb over the numbers, still thinking of the past. The music changed on the radio and the stars had come out, but she hadn't noticed either. A movement caught her attention and she focused on the small figure coming out from the building, following Sakura's invisible trail to the other parked cars. She narrowed her eyes as she recognized Hinata's petite form; laptop bag in one hand, her other held the flaps of her coat together, attempting to keep the cold wind from exposing her.

Sakura leaned forward against the steering wheel, her lips pursed in thought as she wondered what could have changed this woman. Her hair was piled high into a tight and restrictive bun, she still held the aristocratic features the Hyuuga were blessed with, and her skin was still pale as the moon. But her eyes... Yeah, they were definitely different. Sakura had been fascinated with them when they were children. She had often asked the shy girl why they were pale lilac; what it was that made them almost look like pearls? She'd never seen anything quite like it and Hinata had gracefully avoided answering her for years.

The more she thought on it, she realised it wasn't really the colour that had mesmerised her. What had caught her attention was the depth of feelings expressed in them. Hinata had been a girl who had always struggled with her shyness and her lack of confidence. From what Sakura could remember, her father had always been an oppressing force and it resulted with a personal struggle everyone could easily see in the small, fragile child.

The balance of her own identity: Hinata, the warm, kind and beautiful person she had shone with, and the Hyuuga Heiress, a cold-hearted and emotionally disconnected bitch. To Sakura's most observant conclusion, it would seem that the latter had won out in the end.

Sakura couldn't help but shiver slightly at the memory of the new Hinata. Not only had her personality disappeared, but her eyes were terribly frightening now. Gone was the warmth, the depth of unspoken emotion, the kindness she exuded towards everyone. She doubted this Hinata blushed at the thought of Naruto whenever she'd watch him at gym class. In fact, her pale lilac eyes held a blank void of emotion Sakura couldn't read. She couldn't decipher where her old friend had gone.

Before Hinata disappeared into a limo waiting for her at the other side of the lot, she paused a moment and looked towards Sakura's general direction. The pink-haired girl ducked quickly, her eyes big as saucers when she realized that she'd been watching the heiress too intently. Hinata narrowed her eyes and shrugged. Slipping inside the limo she tapped the glass, advising the driver she was ready to leave. Straightening herself, Sakura looked away from the departing limo and glanced at her cell phone again before pressing the old familiar numbers imprinted on her memory. She hummed to the tune created by the dial tone of the numbers before pressing the phone to her ear and listened to the familiar ring.

"Yeah?" the deeper male voice answered sleepily. The usual "hello" had been shed several years ago after they had begun to date, and she had realised long ago that he wasn't one to be courteous anyways. He was, after all, Naruto Uzumaki.

"You busy?" she asked, wasting no time. She needed someone to fill the void forming inside her chest. The familiar feeling was starting to choke her.

"I was sleeping, but I doubt you care," she heard him chuckle; she smiled.

"I had a bitch of a day. Can I come over?" There was a pause at the other end as he considered her tone of voice. It was leaning on desperation or misery; he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Yeah," she heard him stretch "let me clean up first, I'm still covered in manure from my last job." He muffled a yawn as the bed creaked under his weight. She rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly. The man was filthy rich and he couldn't let go of his old ratty mattress from his old life.

"Ok, I'll be there in thirty. I'll grab some food."

"Get me some miso ramen," he said as he perked up. She could have sworn she heard his stomach through the phone.

"Yeah, yeah. Get out the cooler beer; I need a drink something awful." She chuckled before flipping her phone off, cutting off his objection. He didn't like drinking in the middle of the week and he objected when she insisted on doing so. He was a stickler for being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at work. _'Oh how things changed over the years Naruto,_' she thought, amused at the difference in both of them from their old selves. She backed out of her reserved spot and pressed her foot on the pedal, leaving behind her troubles and headed towards the bright warmth of her friend, her ex-lover and her reason to still be alive.

* * *

The hot water slipped down Naruto's flesh, licking his skin like an old familiar lover. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the heat seeping into his sore muscles. That last job had really taken a lot out of him. He popped open the shampoo bottle and poured a large amount into his hand and slapped it onto the mass of yellow tangles identified as his hair. His long, lean fingers massaged the scalp, washing away the sweat of the day and the offending smell of horse shit. He smirked, thinking how Sakura's practical joke had led him to this life.

Naruto had done quite well for himself over the last several years. He had established his own little empire in the business world of Landscape Architecture. Sakura had often teased him for years over his secret obsession with plants and had dared him once to enter a competition when they were twenty years old.

Offended that his lover of two years at the time was making fun of his secret love, he stubbornly entered it. To her dismay, he wiped the competition clean with something he half-assed designed, not taking the competition very seriously. He had won first place and bragging rights over Sakura, who'd had to buy him ramen for a year. This competition had tumbled into a contract with the city of Konoha and lead to his opening a very successful business.

Six years later, he was now famous in the world of landscaping. He was often featured in magazines for his ingenious designs and as a result, his business had flourished beyond comprehension. Although he was annoyed at the time, he was now glad that Sakura had pushed him into a corner that morning and caught him tending to his flowers when she had snuck past his godfather for a mid-breakfast quickie.

His thoughts dabbled on the darker side of things when his fingers hit the sensitive lines on his cheeks while washing his face. He slowly pressed a finger in the creases, wincing at the dull throb even though they were well over twenty years old. He had been offered the opportunity by his godfather's wife, Tsunade, to remove them with plastic surgery, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Naruto's parents had died in a car accident when he was still a newborn. His only physical memory of the incident was the strange markings on his cheeks, best described as whisker-like scars. From what he understood, flying shards of glass had deeply cut his face and left the tormenting memento. He had spent a miserable childhood when all his friends made fun of him and his teen years were pretty angsty when none of the girls would look at him thanks to his deforming features.

He even managed to gain the nickname 'Kyuubi' one year when a Japanese transfer student had arrived in his school. That idiot Gaara had pointed at him, repeating the words "Kyuubi, Kyuubi!" after Naruto had pulled off a long string of carefully planned pranks. They had gone off flawlessly and nailed the intended target, his teacher Kakashi. Gaara had been so shocked at Naruto's savage behaviour that he had begun to shout that foreign word in fright. It wasn't exactly a moment in his life that had built his confidence.

He later found out that it meant 'Nine Tail Fox Demon'. Again, this was a blow to his confidence in more ways than one. He smiled at the memory of Gaara. The boy had gone through a hard time and, although they had started off on the wrong foot, they had become fast friends during that year when he was twelve. They still kept in touch and Naruto had promised to do his friend's garden for free if the red-head ever got married.

Naruto dunked his head under the rain of the shower and washed out the suds. His thoughts started drifting further along in memory lane, but they were cut short when he heard the muffled bang of his front door being slammed shut. He narrowed his eyes and grumbled, knowing full well Sakura would never change her habit of destroying his property. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but he suspected she enjoyed torturing him considering the last thing she broke. Her eyes had gotten a gleam he didn't care to see again.

He took this as his cue to get out and shut the water off. He started to step out, but his foot barely made it to the matt before his bathroom door was pushed open and Sakura stood in front of him with a smirk. This should have startled him, but he had often been molested by Sakura in their dating days while he had tried to escape the shower. Their status in relationship had changed over the years, so he was left exposed and feeling a bit vulnerable in his birthday suit.

"Get out of here, Sakura." He frowned; annoyed she still barged in whenever she felt like it. He reached for a towel and wrapped it around his waist while she carefully eyed him up and down.

"Why did we break up again?" she asked, her eyes almost burned him. She licked her lips and he groaned, resisting the urge to shove her out the door. He hated this game.

"Because I'm not Sasuke and I'm too hot for you." He managed to hide his hurt expertly under the old joke. He grinned at her and she reflected the same as he squeezed past her and headed towards the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

"How long has it been since we've slept together?" she asked, keeping her eyes on his back as her mind was going back to the days when she'd rake her nails down his back and he'd love every minute of it. She bit her lip at the memory, guilt eating at her, knowing full well he was out of her reach now and it was her own fault.

"Four years, and I'm not planning on breaking the record any time soon." His answer came muffled through the wooden planks. He heard her laugh and he sighed. It still hurt deep down that she was over him and still pined for that bastard Sasuke, even after that night. Naruto had been fooling himself when she had come to him a few years after and asked to be with him. He had let himself believe that every moan, sigh and touch she lavished on him that night had been for him, but he had willingly and selfishly believed a falsehood, wanting to be her fantasy for a little while.

He should have recognized the look in her eyes that night. He'd seen it too often in his own reflection; that deep and unrelenting loneliness. Complete misery. They had filled each other's hurt for nearly four years, but he soon came to understand that she was still seeking Sasuke; still fulfilling her fantasies of his rival with his body. It haunted both of them.

She had used him and he had used her to fill the void in their lives. His loneliness had disappeared and he was just glad someone had wanted him, seriously or not. He loved Sakura deeply, but when it dawned on him that she would always hold Sasuke closer to her heart, higher in her mind and love him deeper than she ever would love him, he knew it had to end. Once he stopped believing his own excuses, he broke up with her; refusing to live in the lie any longer.

He dressed quickly, before she decided to barge in to startle him, and stepped out of his room. She had already left and gone back downstairs to his kitchen. He could smell the ramen from here and his mouth watered as his stomach groaned. He quickly made his way downstairs, taking the steps two by two and had to repress the urge to run across the den to the kitchen like a child.

"So, what happened today to make you want to grace me with your holy presence?" he casually mentioned as he sat down on one of the stools around the kitchen island. She shot him a dirty look before continuing to dig for chop sticks. Naruto always kept a handful since Gaara had made him addicted to Ramen. The blond often complained that he could only eat ramen with the infuriating wooden sticks since it tasted better. She couldn't tell the difference, so she chalked it up to Naruto being difficult.

"I met my new boss today."

"Oh? Is he all old, wrinkly and mean?" he smirked, his tanned hand reaching out for a chopstick. She observed the new calluses on his fingers and wondered momentarily how they felt. He sniffed the air, relishing the aroma of ramen in his kitchen, and secretly recited a love poem to his bowl as the soup swirled around the noodles. Could anything be more perfect?

"_She's_ mean alright," Sakura corrected him. He glanced at her quickly with interest before slurping up his first mouthful of noodles and let out a most alluring and gratifying moan. Sakura shook her head in disbelief.

"She's not old or wrinkly." She eyed Naruto with a disgusted expression as his eyes rolled in his head from the taste of his ramen. "In fact, you might be surprised to know its Hinata," she continued, feeling a small, twisted sense of satisfaction when he coughed suddenly.

"Hi-Hinata?" he hit his chest with a fist, trying to make the wad of noodles go down easier.

"Yes, the weird, shy, dark haired girl that had that crush on you in fifth grade." Her smirk had transformed into a grin and he coughed some more. She had repeated the exact words he had used way back then.

"R-r-really? I haven't seen her since elementary." _'Damn, those noodles are hard to get down once you swallow them wrong,'_ he thought, struggling to breathe a moment while his fist pounded away on his chest.

Sakura nodded and blew a little on her own noodles before putting them in her mouth.

"She's pretty different," she managed to get out while chewing. Naruto lifted an eyebrow curiously, finally getting himself under control.

"How so?"

"She's a lot colder, bitchier and she doesn't seem to remember me," she fumed, still annoyed that the woman had dismissed her so easily.

"Really? That seems unusual. She was such a nervous person back then." He pressed the chop sticks against his lips a moment, deep in thought, trying to recall what the girl looked like in his youth. "She certainly wasn't bitchy. Are you sure it was Hinata?"

She glared at him, annoyed he would question her on the identity of her boss.

"Yes, quite sure. Pale lilac eyes, white skin, hair so black it shimmers purple and her name tag said Hinata Hyuuga on it." Her eyes were closed and her lips were pressed in a thin line and Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck raise, screaming danger.

"Ah ha ha, if you're sure then, I'm not one to question you." He tried to retreat from the forbidden region he had stepped into, full throttle. She opened one eye and carefully considered her options, deciding to let it slide and returned to eating her ramen. Naruto sighed in relief.

"Besides Hinata being a bitch, how's work at Hyuuga Corp?" He suppressed an oncoming yawn and he idly wondered when Sakura would leave; he could feel sleep threatening to invade his consciousness.

"It's fine, though still kinda eerie how they insist on having a 360 degree view of the world and 'need' all that information. I know it's handy for their business, but it's weird. '_The all seeing-eye on the world_' is a good motto for them, I guess," she pondered out-loud.

"Anyways, I'm not at risk of losing my job. The reshuffling of the departments ordered by Neji just moved us around. Only a few lost their jobs; like the Sound Tech nerds," she continued. Naruto pretended to listen attentively, but focused solely on his ramen. His eyes were drooping, but he was determined to finish the damned bowl of free ramen, even if it killed him.

She rambled on for another twenty minutes before she realized that her ex-boyfriend hadn't uttered a word in response. She glanced up from her near empty bowl and noticed he had put his head down on the table, resting his forehead on the back of his hands. She also noticed that he had finished the ramen and snorted.

_'He wouldn't be one to skip on the ramen,' _she thought before finishing her own bowl. She frowned when she heard him snoring softly and huffed; annoyed he had fallen asleep on her. She was going to wake him up by kicking him off his chair, but a bright pink object in her purse caught her attention and postponed her violent retaliation for a moment.

She reached her hand into her purse and pulled out her lipstick, smirking.

* * *

Now, Kiba wasn't usually one to be taken by surprise. He had prided himself over several years on his keen ability to expect the unexpected with the company he kept, especially with Naruto, but he had been proven wrong on this fine Tuesday morning. His friend arrived at the office in a foul mood that morning and he could see pink shimmering lines around the tanned flesh. The highlights around his eyelids and eyebrows were amusing to say the least, but not as much as the round dark red stains on his cheeks and lips.

"That bitch! She used the non-fading crap too!" Naruto cussed out a blue streak as he tried to straighten out the orange tie, but he was so furious he only made it more crooked. Kiba reached over and slapped away Naruto's hands, fixing his tie for him.

"What did you do?" Kiba tried to keep his grin at bay, but he was failing hard and fast. Naruto gave him an icy glare that was accented by the deep blue of his eyes.

"I passed out in the middle of Sakura's rant last night and she drew all over my face with her lipsticks before she left," he fumed. Kiba couldn't hold it in anymore and roared with laughter.

"Oh fucking hilarious. We have a major presentation today and I look like a fucking clown." That didn't do anything to stop his partner from laughing; in fact it made it worse. Tears had the nerve to slide down his friend's face; Naruto glared at them, naming them Traitor and Infidel.

"I never tacked Sakura as a prankster," Kiba managed to huff out, calming himself long enough for Naruto to retort.

"She's worse than me! Fuck, she was usually the one who implanted the damned ideas in my head in the first place when we were kids. She lived vicariously through the damned suggestions," he growled out, but let out a frustrated cry soon after when Kiba doubled over again, laughing.

"There's no way in hell I'm doing this presentation! I'm going to be laughed out of the room." He was really upset and Kiba's laughter was really starting to grain the last bit of his patience.

"Come fucking find me when you're done pissing yourself laughing, ass-hat." He walked out of his office and headed towards the coffee room, hoping no one else would dare give him shit about his new make-up. He pulled out his cell phone from his pants pocket and dialed Sakura's office number.

* * *

By the message Naruto had left her, she was positive he had seen her handy work this morning and she was feeling pretty smug. It wasn't often one managed to pull a fast one on the great Uzumaki Naruto. She picked up her phone and dialed his cell, smirking.

"_You!_" was all she heard when he answered.

"Me what?" she said innocently.

"You _do_ realise you used that shit that can't come off for twenty-four hours right?" He was unusually more angry than necessary at her prank, so she decided to take him a bit more seriously.

"I'm not sure. I just grabbed what I had in my purse. You got what you deserved for falling asleep on me." She felt quite justified.

"Jesus! I have a presentation with a major client today and you made me look like a fucking clown for twenty-four hours, Sakura!" he yelled this time, loud enough to draw her co-worker's attention her way. She blushed, turning herself around in her chair.

"Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered harshly into the phone. He blinked in surprise at the other end of the line.

"Don't turn this on me missy! It isn't my fucking problem you didn't know I had a meeting in the morning. You drew all over my face with a permanent lipstick because you got your knickers in a _twist_ over my falling asleep in the middle of your rant!" he shouted again. She bit her lip when she realised she had moved the blame on him.

"I don't wear knickers for pete sake," she retorted, annoyed he made her sound like a granny. "I wear thongs; pretty ones at that," she huffed. Naruto rolled his eyes. As if he was supposed to give two shits what underwear she liked to wear.

"Are you even feeling a little sorry for me?" he whined. She did, sorta, but she wouldn't tell him that.

"Well I do feel bad you won't get your oodles of millions of dollars from that deal. Should of stayed awake, babe!" she flipped the phone off before he could get a chance to cut her apart with anything angry. She had really messed up and she promised herself to buy him ramen every day until he forgave her.

"Sakura."

The pink-haired girl stiffened at the sound of her name. She turned slightly to look over her shoulder and gave Hinata a small, tight smile.

"What can I do for you?" She turned herself entirely around, back to her sitting position behind her desk, her green eyes met pearl lilac steadily.

"If you're done screaming at your lover, I would appreciate the paperwork on the landscape plans for this morning's meeting," she coldly replied. Sakura narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

"He's not my lover, Miss Hyuuga." She dismissed the look she received from her former friend and dug out the file she had requested. The project had been dumped on her late last night before her meeting, so she hadn't had the chance to even look at it.

"Here's the fi-," she paused. Her fingers brushed the name of the company that had been chosen and she let out a groan. Hinata pulled the object from her unwilling fingers, resulting in a tiny tug of war that momentarily cracked Hinata's strict demeanour. Sakura let go once she clued in her boss was tugging quite hard and smiled sheepishly, apologising as her boss walked back to her office.

Rasengan Landscapes.

Naruto was going to kill her. For real this time. No amount of ramen was ever going to bring forgiveness.

* * *

The phone met the wall with a loud crack and Naruto introduced the rest of his staff to his angry voice, startling them. That woman infuriated him beyond reason sometimes.

"Relax, Naruto. I'll call my sister and see if she knows a trick or two to get that shit off your face," Kiba muttered behind him. His hand fell on Naruto's shoulder as a sign of comfort, but the blond shrugged him off in irritation and rubbed his face, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I must have been insane to date her for so many years. Seriously, who does this to a person at twenty-six?"

"You're just mad she thought of it first," Kiba laughed, Naruto grumbled.

"Well, maybe." His hand dropped away from his face and he did feel a small amount of pride for Sakura's prank, it was pretty good. "Still! That's beside the point!" He threw his hands up in the air in frustration and began to walk around in a circle. Kiba watched him, fairly amused as he continued to cuss and wish terrible things on Sakura.

The phone rang from its discarded position. Naruto picked it up and tried to answer it, but he had broken it in his demented rage. This roused more cussing out of him and he left the office to get himself a new phone, entirely forgetting that he looked like Bozo the Clown.

Kiba laughed, again.

* * *

"Ino! Ino!" Sakura shouted as she ran through the office. The blonde looked up from the ads mock ups she had sprawled out in front of her and gave her friend a quizzical look.

"What? What's wrong?" She knew Sakura to be fairly calm, so her panicked voice had her a little bit worried.

"I majorly screwed things up for Naruto and I need your expertise!"

Ino sighed. Sakura was pretty good at pissing off her ex-boyfriend. "What did you do this time?" She shot Sakura a half-lidded glare, to which Sakura lifted her chin slightly, lips pressed in retaliation.

"He deserved it! It was just bad timing on my part to prank him with it," she offered as an excuse. Ino only raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in disbelief.

"Ok, ok fine! He didn't really deserve it, it was my fault for showing up so late and I didn't know he was meeting with Hyuuga Corp. today for a major multi-million dollar deal! I need your help!" she was almost shouting frantically.

"What? A deal with the Hyuuga? What did you do to the poor man?" Ino was feeling a bit panicked as well. If Sakura was freaking out, she was in deep shit.

"I kinda messed up his face with long-lasting lipstick." She looked away from her friend's accusing glare and found a fascinating spot on the wall.

"Sakura, you idiot."

"Yes, yes, this has already been established! I need your tricks to get that shit off his skin!"

"You can't really take that shit off, it's a stain! We can maybe tone it down a bit." She mulled over every trick she knew, but she was coming up blank. Then it came to her.

"Oh! I know! Quick, we need to hit the pharmacy. When's his meeting?"

"I don't know! I tried to call but I think he broke his phone," she said quietly. That's what he usually did when she pissed him off and hung up on him. She had to break that habit or he was going to start sending the bill to her.

"Sakura..."

"Let's go!" She hurried ahead of her friend, trying to avoid another accusing stare and a flurry of questions she couldn't possibly deal with.

* * *

Naruto stood in line. His face held a flush that had steadily grown over the last hour while making his way to the phone kiosk. Everyone was staring at him. It wasn't every day you met a handsome young man in a black business suit with an orange silk tie, face painted like a clown. Children were laughing at him and their parents were doing their best not to join in.

He was going to kill Sakura. For real this time.

A young lady behind him kept peering over at him. Well, he assumed she was peering. He couldn't tell with her sunglasses on. She did a good job at keeping her face quite impassive; he had to give her that.

"What?" he finally blurted out after the tenth "peering" from her. He startled her and she softly apologised. He shrugged in response.

"Why is your face... like that?" she pointed. He frowned in annoyance.

"It's a reminder that I have to kill a certain woman later this afternoon."

"Oh? A lover's spat?"

"Dear god, no. She got annoyed I fell asleep in the middle of her anti-boss rant. So I woke up with this on my face."

"You can't wash it off with make-up cleaner?" Her voice tickled something in his memory, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was tickling about.

"That would require me knowing what that is." He sighed. Maybe soap and water wasn't the best solution when dealing with feminine products. He sure as hell wasn't going into the pharmacy to ask the girls there what to do; he'd get laughed out of the store.

The young woman reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper and pen, jotted down the name of a product and handed it to him. She still didn't smile, but he could have sworn he saw a faint smirk there. Great, she's laughing at him too.

"Here, I use this when my own smudges on my skin. It takes away most of it."

He took the piece of paper from her delicate fingers, brushing against them. They both felt a jolt as a spark of static electricity passed between them. Startled, Naruto stepped back and the girl blushed lightly. He grinned and opened his mouth to ask her what her name was but he was cut off by the vendor.

"Here's your phone, sir." Naruto looked away for barely a moment and picked up his new phone, checking to see if everything had been transferred over. When he was satisfied, he looked up to speak with the young woman again, but she was gone.

* * *

Naruto arrived at his office with a small bag and was met with Sakura and Ino. He gave off a glare so intense, even Ino gulped in conjunction with her friend.

"We know how to get that stuff off!" Sakura quickly added in before Naruto could rip into her.

"Get to it then." He threw the small bag at her and she opened it, her eyes wide.

"How did you know about that stuff?"

"Some woman felt sorry enough for me to give me a hint on how to take the shit off," he grumbled and started to walk towards the unisex bathroom. Ino trailed after the two as they continued to argue back and forth. More like Sakura apologized profusely and Naruto milked her guilt like a farmer.

The two women waited for Naruto to settle down on one of the chairs they'd brought in. Once he gave them the ok, they got to work on his face. They soon discovered Naruto's first allergy.

Naruto's skin was red and swollen. His scars were tingling painfully and he cussed. Sakura and Ino groaned as they washed off the products that were irritating his skin. He looked a little better but the clown mask was better than the current chubby, red, swollen face he sported.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto!" Sakura whined for the last umpteenth time in the last 30 minutes.

"It's fine, Sakura. It's just fucking fantastic," he grumbled out. Ino had gone back to the office, promising that she would let their supervisor know where she was. Sakura had stayed behind, trying to figure out how to make him look like his usual handsome self, but she was at a loss. Her prank had entirely backfired on her and she was going to be the cause of a major deal breakdown between her company and Naruto's.

They walked out of the bathroom and he straightened out his jacket.

"At least this is a medical reason; I can excuse this over the clown make-over." He sighed before glancing over to Sakura and gave her a soft smile. She felt instantly relieved. He had forgiven her somewhere along the line after careful consideration that there was no point being so mad about something out of his control. He put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick hug.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked, making the girl stiffen in her ex's embrace as she focused her eyes on the petite woman in front of her. Naruto twisted his head around and noticed that it was the girl from earlier that morning at the phone kiosk.

"Oh, it's you!" He smiled at the girl, but she did not respond. He frowned when Sakura let go of him and she bowed down in respect.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I was helping my friend with a problem I caused." Hinata's pale eyes narrowed as she recalled the conversation with the young man behind her.

"Return to the office at once, I will speak with you then," she said, dismissing Sakura, who had to use every bit of self control to not run out of the office like a bat out of hell. Hinata looked up to her assistant's object of affection and tilted her head quizzically. Naruto had obviously misjudged this woman; she certainly wasn't as fragile as he imagined this morning if Sakura had reacted this way.

"I assume you had a negative reaction to the product I suggested this morning."

Naruto blinked and had to suppress the urge to scratch his face with the carpet on the ground.

"Yeah. I didn't know I was allergic to anything until this." He grinned sheepishly. Hinata nodded and extended her hand towards him.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata." She watched as his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Hinata? Well, well! Long time no see!" He came to life as he grabbed her hand and shook it like an old friend. She was confused and her brow knitted together as a result.

"Ah, seems you don't remember me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. We went to school together a long time ago." He watched her to see if she had any recollection, her face remained impassive and for a moment he saw her pale eyes search her memory. Nothing seems to click so he shrugged.

"Well, never mind. I assume you're the Hyuuga Corp. representative on this project?" he had returned to business, his previous friendly behaviour forgotten.

"Yes."

"Please follow me. I hope my current medical situation with my face isn't going to differ your opinion of me." He put a hand on the small of her back to lead her to the meeting rooms. Another small spark shocked them and he removed his hand quickly, frowning.

"I might remove all the carpets if this keeps up," he muttered. He missed the small smile that played on Hinata's lips for a split second before she answered.

"No, since it's my fault for suggesting the product, I will ignore your sad condition." She moved ahead into the room, leaving behind a fairly perplexed Naruto. Kiba rose from his seat and bowed down in greeting to their guest; she did the same before sitting down. Naruto closed the door behind him and prayed this meeting would go in a different direction than it had started

* * *

Read and review! Yes I know Hinata's OOC. I'm making her that way for a reason. I had a reaction like that to a cleaning product too, it's valid!

- Beta'd June 30, 2009 by Jolly Green


	2. Her Origin in Robotics

**A small crack in perfection**_  
by eternalshiva_

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

_**AN**_- Lucky! I was still in AU mode and wrote chapter two. Don't get used to it, I'm going back to Twice Shy after this chapter ;p Hope this story is worth the wait in the long run since I have no definite real clue as to where it's going and how it's going to end. OH GOD I HAVE NO PLAN OF ACTION. Don't mind me, I'm catching my retarded mistakes as I re-read this. I -will- find you beta. I WILL.

Beta _found_ – Jolly Green ;D Thank you for the beta, Jolly.

* * *

**Chapter 2  
**_Her origin in robotics_

The meeting was going fairly well, to Naruto's relief. They had already agreed on the amount of money the projects would cost and picked the different sites for the gardens. Now they only had to look over several minute details before they could call the meeting to an end.

"For the internal gardens that the Hyuuga Corporation is commissioning from your company, I wish to have specific flowers present in all of them." Hinata gazed over at the opened files in front of Naruto. He picked up the bundled documents she was referring to and had begun to thumb through them. These flowers were pricey.

"This will cost a fair amount of money to have them in all eighteen designs." He didn't look up, but he could sense that she had already suspected as much.

"I'm aware. They have special meaning." Her voice didn't falter as his blue eyes glanced up from the paper and settled on her. His left hand had come up to his face and scratched lightly at the swelling and she noted a visible wince when his fingers brushed the strange scars. She focused there a moment and something in the back of her mind tingled. They seemed familiar.

"Ok, I will draft designs for these for your approval. I will need photographs of the areas you intend to convert and measurements. I will also need access to the sites so that I may personally see them to plan better." He set aside the bundle of documents and picked up the next file, this one was for the design of Hinata's personal garden at home.

"I will give you a pass that will allow you to come as you will through the necessary buildings. Once your staff has been chosen, they will be outfitted with passes as well," she said, nodding.

Naruto pursed his lips in thought. He'd never been so formal in a meeting before, it was getting kind of over-the-top annoying. This woman was completely different from what he remembered. She'd had an insatiable stutter and a terrible blushing habit when he was a boy in elementary. This woman here was in total control of herself. It was almost unnatural. The more he studied her, the more he wanted to crack open that shell she was hiding under and break that control.

"Is something the matter?"

Her question broke his train of thought and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh! No, I was just thinking on the designs," he quickly covered up. "Once I start designing your personal garden, I would like to visit your home," he casually mentioned. Hinata blinked. Had he offended her?

"Naruto likes to design the gardens to reflect the personality of the owner; he usually meets with his clients on a frequent basis to get to know them better and to see what would work best in the gardens." Kiba interjected, sensing that Naruto had entered forbidden territory with Hinata. Naruto barely held his look of confusion in check and Hinata merely nodded.

"That is acceptable." She picked up her files and stood up; indicating that she had said what was intended. Naruto followed suit and led her out of the office. He decided to take a chance on breaking the walls of formality between them. This could backfire on him and he would lose the fifteen million dollar deal, but... she was worth it. He hoped that at least Kiba would understand if this failed miserably. He didn't really know what the rest of his staff would say.

"Ah, Hinata." Naruto spoke in a very low, intimate tone; without thinking he placed his hand on the small of her back as he guided her. She could feel his breath on her cheek and she blinked at the sudden intrusive sensation. She had never let anyone within her personal space and she was shocked at his eagerness to touch her. No one had so casually touched her since her accident when she was thirteen.

"Yes?" She tried to say it firmly, but it came out as a breathy whisper instead.

"Don't be too hard on Sakura; she didn't mean any harm when she ranted about you last night." He smiled very slowly at her, his eyes danced with amusement and she was a little dumbstruck by the feeling of his unwelcome warmth.

"Sakura?" Her brain had muddled. His presence had invaded her very tightly knitted sense of personal space and for the first time in thirteen years she was feeling cornered, vulnerable. This was not a pleasant sensation.

"Yes. I know you remembered my complaint this morning in line when I offered the reason as to why I was painted like a clown. She's just a little put off that you don't remember her. From what she says, you two had been very close as children." He continued to watch her, his face tilted indicating he was paying full attention to her.

"Ah, I will keep that in mind. To be honest, w-well, I don't remember much of my childhood. I was in an accident that caused memory problems. My father has spent much time rehabilitating me throughout my teenage years." Naruto had to suppress the urge to laugh as the whisper of a stutter came out of her. She wasn't too far away. "I'm afraid I do not recall Sakura - or you for that matter," she added, her gaze meeting his, almost in apology.

"Oh, is it permanent memory loss?" Naruto asked, concerned for her. She shook her head lightly.

"No, but from what I am told, my former self was a shameful sight. My father has refused to aid me in the recovery of those memories." She played with her hands idly, not knowing where to put them. "He's made sure that I'm not exposed to anything in my previous life to avoid resurfacing the old unwanted personality." She wasn't quite sure what to make of his current expression; it looked mixed with anger and disbelief.

"Shameful? What? Are you serious?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes a little. "You were a little shy, you blushed quite a bit and you had an insatiable stutter, but you were nothing to be ashamed of." She could see him thinking, bringing back the little memories he had of their time together. She almost felt a little jealous; there was a part of her locked away in his head that she wanted to see - to pull it out herself if she could.

"Well, I wouldn't know," she retorted, a bit annoyed at herself. Why was she revealing all these things to him? She was not one to dwell on old things she had no control over. It had been drilled into her for several years that the past was the past and she could only control the present for a better future. She shouldn't let her childish fantasies of her memories push her to let her guard down this way. '_This man in dangerous_' she decided. He was unsettling her, invading her. He was smearing her hard earned perfection.

"Well, it seems to me the past has found you." Naruto let his smile turn into a grin. She narrowed her eyes slightly, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well your assistant was your best-friend and unfortunately for you, she happens to be the most stubborn woman you'll ever meet. She'll probably be talking about how it was 'back-in-the-day' non-stop to make a point. Don't forget that we also went to school together." Something devilish almost gleamed in his face. He was hiding something; she could feel that it was potentially very embarrassing.

"It's been several years since my accident, I'm not even sure my memories can be recovered," she stubbornly argued. Naruto sighed and pressed the button to the elevator, letting his hand slip away from her back. The heat dissipated fast and she was partially relieved that he had stopped touching her. She could finally put a complete sentence together in her head.

She was unsettled with his close proximity. She hadn't really paid close attention to his face before, but even with the bloating from the allergy, he was rather striking and she felt exposed to his blue eyes. They threatened to dig deeper into her past. She could feel it and she wasn't sure she was able to deny his access.

"True, but never say never to an Uzumaki. That's challenging them and they're never one to ignore a challenge." He watched Hinata as she stepped onto the elevator and she tilted her head slightly, her interest in the man increasing.

"And I would have to say that you, Hinata Hyuuga, are a challenge I'm interested in taking." He let another lazy smile cross his lips while he spoke the words at a very low decibel, meant only for her to hear. The doors had barely shut and she realized that again, for the second time in thirteen years, Naruto Uzumaki had managed to bring out a habit she had forgotten. She blushed, deeply, and sputtered out an incoherent sentence of shock.

'_Found you,_' Naruto thought as the elevator began its decent. He turned and walked towards the meeting room to discuss the plan of action for this very lucrative deal with Kiba.

* * *

Hinata hadn't contacted him since their little tête-à-tête a few days prior. Instead of worrying about if he'd cross the line with her, he focused on studying the photographs provided and the flowers Hinata wanted without exception in her gardens. He was intrigued further once he'd thought on the meaning behind the plants. Her list was short, but very meaningful: Butterfly Orchids suggested that someone was on her mind, the Lavender Heath spoke of isolation. The White Heath called out for protection and wishes.

She also wanted Lily Daffodils, which meant pride. The Galax represented encouragement and the Sword Lily shouted strength of character. But the one that had him the most perplexed was the last set she requested. This one had a star next to it, meaning she wanted the most of: the Purple Hyacinth. It represented sorrow and to be forgiven. She was surrounded with a mist of mystery that was slowly entrancing him. He wanted to take her apart, lick her wounds and put her back together again. He was intrigued and he hadn't been intrigued by a woman since the first time he'd met Sakura.

"Do you think she's a robot?" Sakura asked idly, her spoon tapping on her lips while she leaned in the leather chair towards him as she pulled her feet up on the small magazine table. This pulled him out of his thoughts, which were dangerously turning smutty. She looked at him expectantly.

"Who? Hinata?" He raised an eyebrow in wonder as he scratched his head with the dull end of his pencil. His face had gone down in swelling, but his skin had begun to peel and the itch was making him insane. He had resorted to scratching his head as a placebo to satisfy his need. Sakura could barely look at him; he was like a leper.

"Yes, her." She stared at him with disbelief. "Who else would I be complaining about?" She rolled her eyes at his lack of attention.

"No…" He had to resist laughing as he continued, "I'm pretty sure she isn't." His eyes rolled slightly before returning to the sheet in front him and continued to ignore the girl. He wasn't really interested in her debunked theories.

"She has to be. Never in my life have I seen someone so… detached."

"You're just mad she doesn't remember you because of her accident," he mumbled out as he picked up his ruler, laid it down on the draft paper and marked the distance between one mass and another.

"I am not!" she tried to argue, but Naruto glanced up, half-lidded, and she slumped. He'd won the battle before it even had a chance to start. She hated it when he did that. Someday she would win the glare battle and it would be a glorious day indeed. In fact, she even had the victory dance worked out step by step in her head.

"Well, ok. Maybe. Though it's kind of weird how she's so... robotic. I wonder what happened to her?" She sighed. He shook his head and groaned, wondering if she was paying any attention to what he was saying. Didn't he just say she lost her memory in an accident?

"Well she did say that her father 'rehabilitated' her and from what you've informed me, he was a complete prick and was never happy with her. She probably got brain washed into it." He brought his attention back to his draft, thinking he was the only one in the room with the ability to think logically.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you did those on the computer?" she asked. Naruto hummed a moment before answering her; he was on a roll and didn't want to break his train of thought on the design.

"Yeah, but I like to hack it out on paper first. It helps me think it through more clearly. Once I'm happy with the drafts, I give them to Sai and he'll have them ready to be seen by the robot." He grabbed for the eraser and glanced up when she leaned back on the chair she was sitting on, digging out her lunch. That's when he fully realised that she was sitting in his office, in the middle of a work day.

"Ah." She thought about what he said and started to laugh, realising he'd been calling Hinata a robot. She paused when he gave her a weird look.

"What are you doing here anyways? Don't you have a, you know, what do you call it?" he pressed his pencil to his lips, tapping them slightly to draw Sakura's full attention. "Ah, yes!" he exclaimed, pointing upwards as though he had a brilliant idea. "A job?" She shrugged.

"It's lunch time and Ino wasn't there." She bit a carrot and munched slowly. "I certainly wasn't going to ask Hinata to eat with me and Chouji would just eat my lunch. So I came here instead." She bit on her sandwich and chewed slowly. Naruto shook his head and went back to his drawing.

'_Why me? WHY?_' he begged to whatever force was watching over them and as if she'd heard his cry of misery, she perked up with a "you're practically married to your job. I knew you'd be here" and nodded. He secretly stuck out his tongue at her in retaliation and hoped she'd leave soon; he had a deadline.

"I mean, not recalling all those times she slept at my house? Seems a bit unbelievable," she continued to rant. Naruto considered putting on his earphones to block her out, but he knew that was a no-no. So instead, he decided that Sakura had selective hearing and resigned himself to the fact that she'd ignore anything he had to say in defence of Hinata's memory issue.

"When we were seven, I gave her one of my clean pair of panties when she had peed in the bed! I was traumatised; there was so much of it. Who knew she had such a big bladder." Sakura had this complete flabbergasted expression on her face and he could only respond with a quick lift of his eyebrows that clearly stated '_and this is important for my vast array of knowledge on your childhood because…?_'

She huffed; clearly insulted he didn't know the meaning of sharing panties when you're a young girl. _Boys_. Time to educate him on a few small secrets of understanding a woman's thinking.

"It's very important! That's like a rise in status of friendship, like the equivalent of you, let's say…" she thought of what was meaningful enough to Naruto to think twice on sharing. "...lending Kiba your favourite porn." She pointed at him, thinking she made herself clear. He smirked and rolled his eyes. Ok, so they had been _very_ close. That example didn't make any sense though.

"I highly doubt lending your Hello Kitty panties at seven leads to the same intent, or meaning, as porn." He barely had time to dodge the remainder of her sandwich that flew towards his head. She then walked out of his office, huffing. He laughed as he heard Kiba say hello to her and she retorted with an embarrassed "_Shut up!"_

Kiba walked into Naruto's office, still looking towards Sakura's retreating form with a thoroughly confused expression. "What's got her panties in a bunch?" he half-wondered out loud. This, of course, had Naruto doubled over in laughter. Kiba raised an eyebrow in confusion and decided to not delve into the matter any further.

"How far along are you on those designs?" Kiba peered over his partner's shoulder and looked at what he'd come up with.

"I just started the third one." He handed over the two that he had managed to finish that morning before Sakura had barged in. Kiba took them and nodded, appreciating the complexity and detail.

"I'll get these to Sai. He's been itching to start this project." His partner picked up the sheets and carefully rolled them up before sending a grin towards Naruto. "You're putting way more effort into this than any of your other projects." Naruto ignored him.

"Ok, get those to Sai and give me a report on the other projects. I can't be there to help until these are all done." He heard his friend let out a snort before leaving with the finished sheets in hand. Naruto grabbed his pencil, ideas swirling on how to finish the third design when his cell-phone rang, interrupting him again. He considered ignoring it, but once the number flashed on the screen, he smiled.

"Hello?"

"Naruto?"

"Ah, Hinata! I was wondering when you'd call." He let a lazy smile cross his lips. He'd been anticipating her call for a few days now, but he hadn't realised just how _much_ he'd anticipated it. There was a pause at the end of the line for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure what it meant.

"I have the passes for you. Can we meet after work so that I may give them to you?"

"Sure, you want to grab a bite to eat, too?" he asked, trying his luck. Worst she could say is no. The contract was already signed for the deal and as a result he couldn't lose the money agreed on even if he got on her bad side. There was a pause again.

"No, I don't think that's appropriate. I just want to give you the passes," she added quickly. He had managed to surprise her again. People generally avoided her since she gave a very good and solid impression to be left alone, but he didn't seem to get the hint.

"Well, I'll be bringing food. So what do you want to eat?" he pressed on and heard her sigh. "Come on, you'll be hungry by then, I'm positive." He waited, and there was silence at the other end of the line. He almost thought the call had been dropped but she finally caved to his very light demands.

"Hot cinnamon buns."

He grinned again. She hung up, feeling defeated.

He had won the second round.

* * *

She was beginning to feel very exposed. Hinata stared at the phone in her hand and a million thoughts swirled in her head. There was something about that boy's determination that was really getting to her. He was picking at her carefully built wall to keep people away and to her dismay, he was starting to break off pieces of it.

'_Emotions are an object of weakness; they will encumber you. Deter you from the path of our success. You must never look away from anyone; always look ahead, never to the ground.'_ Her father's words resonated in her head as she tried to bring herself back into check. She couldn't allow him to shake her. She _wouldn't _allow him to shake her.

"Miss Hyuuga?"

Sakura's voice brought her back. She watched the pink-haired woman poke her head though the door.

"Yes?"

"The item you requested has arrived." She showed her the thick envelope.

"Ah, yes." She motioned for Sakura to come in. Sakura approached the desk and handed her the envelope. She turned to leave, but Hinata's small cough forced her to turn, facing the heiress. Pale eyes weighed heavily on her assistant causing Sakura to fidget, feeling nervous.

"A-anything I can help you with?" she barely managed to get out; the petite woman could be intimidating at times. There was an awkward silence between them and Hinata seemed to struggle a moment before answering her. Sakura could have sworn she saw a flash of doubt or uncertainty in the unusual eyes of her boss.

"Ah, do... do you think you could stay a little while?" A light blush formed on the heiress's cheeks and Sakura blinked. She doubted that the dark-haired woman knew she was tinting red and that the air had shifted between them. It had changed from uncomfortable to pleasant.

"With what?" Suddenly eager, the girl stepped closer, curious to know what was in the envelope. Hinata pressed her fingers against the envelope and tore the lining off. She pulled out the first book of five and bit her lip. Why was she nervous?

"Well, as you know, I've lost most of my childhood memories." She glanced towards Sakura and weighed her options. Maybe she shouldn't involve the woman; she didn't really know her.

"Yes I know, Naruto told me so I wouldn't make a pest of myself." Sakura blurted out. Hinata frowned; the two were a lot closer than she had anticipated. What was their relationship? Sakura gave her a strange look; she couldn't read her boss's expression.

"I inquired on my elementary yearbooks. I would like you to help me identify some of the..." she was cut off by Sakura's shout of excitement.

"Are you serious? I'd love to help you! You want me to dig out the old pictures from our sleep over too? My mom kept all that old stuff." A flurry of words came barrelling out of Sakura's mouth and completely overwhelmed the petite woman. She had pictures of them?

"Uh..." was all she managed to say before Sakura had pulled a chair next to her and grabbed the first yearbook out of her hands, flipping quickly through the pages. Hinata tried to absorb all the names and faces Sakura pointed at, all the activities and the stories, but she was having trouble grasping the quick speech.

There was one glaring thing she noticed in all the pictures she found herself in; her father had been correct: she was unnoticeable, inverted, and her obvious lack of confidence was an insult to the Hyuuga. The more she looked at the pictures, the less she wanted to remember and she felt a deep shame creeping in.

"Oh, I love this one." Sakura pointed at a picture in her final year. Hinata followed Sakura's index finger and noticed a young boy with his arm around her shoulder, grinning and giving a peace sign with right hand. Her younger self was a deep shade of red, her eyes wide and shocked while her classmates looked like they were laughing. She reached out and touched the image, her index finger tracing the faded marks on the cheeks of the boy.

"This is Naruto?" she half whispered. Her mind had begun to work hard suddenly as she tried to recall this specific moment. They were in their gym outfits.

"Yeah, this was during the Athletic Meet. You and Naruto were partners for the Martial Arts competition. You guys lost the last round against some older kids that year, but he didn't mind. In fact he..." Hinata couldn't hear Sakura. All she could hear was the childish voice of a boy.

"_Don't let it get you down, Hinata! You did great! You were amazing! Keep your chin up, Hinata! Don't let what your dad just said bother you, we're not losers!" The boy's blue eyes had showered her with pride and she had felt the blood rush to her cheeks when he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Her heart had overflowed with joy, pushing out the shame she felt at losing. Happiness. She had felt happiness. _

"Why are you blushing?" Sakura was dangerously close to her face, fascinated by the strange occurrence. She hadn't seen her boss in a full-on blush since she'd taken over and realised that, with this new development, it meant that Hinata wasn't a robot. Sakura was almost disappointed; her theory had been thrown out the window. This potentially meant one thing and she felt a bubble of excitement pop.

"Did you remember something?" Sakura raised her eyebrows, Hinata looked away. "Oh ho!" her assistant shouted. "You remembered something, and I bet it was about Naruto." She wiggled her perched eyebrows, a lecherous grin slowly forming on her face.

"Are you keeping some important information regarding Naruto from me?" Hinata asked, a little intrigued since he had the same devilish gleam a few days ago.

"Maybe. I'm not sure I should say anything since you thought it was a well-kept secret." Sakura leaned back against her chair and smiled. Hinata was a bit miffed the woman was holding her private information hostage. Sakura could almost see her old friend coming back up to the surface. She was starting to shed some of the layers, but a question kept picking at her and without thinking, she opened her mouth.

"What happened for you to be so cold? Where's our Hinata?" she asked instead of answering the question. The heiress blinked and stiffened at the question. This wasn't something she wanted to discuss and she felt that she had let her assistant get too close to her.

"It's none of your business," she cut sharply. The thick air of discomfort drowned out the pleasant feeling that had descended earlier. Sakura was taken aback, the disappointment apparent on her face when Hinata glared at her. She had definitely said the wrong thing.

She sighed as she watched her friend sink back into the depth of the Hyuuga Heiress persona. The previous warmth in her eyes was gone, her personality smothered under a thick layer of self-erected walls. The Bitch had successfully resurfaced.

"I'll let you be, Miss Hyuuga," she said, putting emphasis on the name, and picked herself up off the chair, quickly walking out of the office. Hinata watched the girl's retreating form. Her vision clouded and something clicked inside her head.

_The two girls giggled under the blanket. 'I-I-I'm s-s-sorry about your b-b-bed...' the smaller girl whispered before she could feel herself drift off to sleep. 'Don't worry about it, Hinata. Naruto pees in it all the time, too. My mom has a special plastic on the mattress because of him.' The warm hand of her friend wrapped around her own and she was comforted. 'Friends forever, 'k Hinata?' A small pinkie reached out and hooked into the small one of her own hand. 'F-f-friends for e-e-ever, Sa-sa-sakura,' she had stuttered out._

Hinata leaned into her hands, clutching the sides of her head. _'No. No. I don't want to remember. I am not a slave to my emotions! I am not the shame of the Hyuuga! I. Am. Not. This. Pitiful.'_

* * *

Sakura collapsed in front of Ino's desk. The blonde didn't bother to look up.

"You were in there a really long time. What did you do?"

Sakura sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to avoid a headache. Getting this woman out of her shell was way harder than she anticipated.

"I didn't do anything. She asked me to help her with something."

"Huh. Why so glum then?" Ino watched her reaction. Sakura only shrugged indifferently.

"I will probably get fired. I think I said something that triggered a memory and she's all anal about it."

"Anal?" Ino knitted her brow together in thought. "What did you say?"

"I asked her what happened to her and she shut me out." She sighed as she sunk further into the chair. Her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket, grinned when she saw the number, and flipped it open. Instead of hello, she made a moaning sound. Ino snorted.

"Stop that," Naruto grumbled out. Sakura grinned.

"What can I do for you?"

"Since you barged into my office today and distracted me from my work, I need you to get me some of those cinnamon buns from the bakery near your work. I won't make it there before they close."

"What? Why do you want those things?" she grumbled. The baker always commented on her lack of chest and it bothered her to even go there. Naruto was well aware of this.

"I promised someone. Please?" he used his puppy tone and she crumbled. Damn it, he knew all her weaknesses!

"Fine, but you owe me." She sighed when he let out a shout of gratitude.

"Kiba will pick them up before he comes back from Sai's," he looked at his watch "should be soon considering he's been gone almost an hour. I'm sure Sai's done torturing him by now." Sakura laughed.

"You still use him? He's creepy, and he's got that strange obsession with men's penises." She thought about the first time she met Sai. He had mentioned that Naruto's penis was not worth her precious worshipping time. At the time they were still dating, so she had hit the man quite hard across the face. Naruto had only laughed, saying that Sai was just a little bit socially dysfunctional. That was putting it the lamest terms possible.

"Yeah, but he's good at what he does. I'll put up with him. Now, get the cinnamon buns!"

"Yeah, yeah. Oh, I managed to get under Hinata's skin today; I think she may have remembered a few things."

"Oh yeah?" he had stopped listening to her, digging through his pile of drafts. She sighed when she noticed the tell-tale signs he'd sucked himself back into work.

"Nevermind, I'll get the buns. I'll talk to you later."

"Ok. Thanks again."

Sakura sighed as she hung up. Ino looked at her from her desk and raised a brow.

"I think he's seeing someone," she half-wondered out loud.

Ino laughed.

* * *

Kiba eyed the box on Naruto's desk. He could smell them and his stomach groaned in protest, wondering why Kiba hadn't torn the box open to devour the damned things.

"Why did I get cinnamon buns for you again?"

Naruto pulled on his raincoat and gave his friend a smirk. "They're for Hinata. She's coming over here soon to give us the passes to the sites." He heard his friend snort.

"Are you studying her for the garden project or just trying to get into her pants?"

Naruto shook his head. He hadn't been with anyone since Sakura and he wasn't sure if he was even that interested in Hinata yet. At this point, she was just a challenge he had the urge to crack.

"Garden project," he mumbled, though his voice didn't sound very convincing, even to him. He knew Kiba didn't believe him since he shook his head.

"You have that look." Kiba gave him a half-lidded glare. Naruto frowned.

"What look?"

"The Look! That look you get when you've found something challenging. This only means trouble with a capital 'T'."

Naruto rolled his eyes slightly, sighing. Kiba had too much imagination and, obviously, he had to give the man more work to keep him from hurting himself by thinking up misleading scenarios between him and a client.

"I'm serious, Naruto. That woman's more than you can handle. Hell, she's more than what I can handle," he huffed. Naruto ignored him.

"It's not like that at all. She's an old friend who has a few issues."

"Split personality issues, you mean," Kiba corrected. He knew the amnesia types, they weren't any better than the ones who were normal.

"She does not," the blond retorted. He walked over to his desk and picked up the still cooling buns, took a quick glance at his watch and as though on cue, his phone rang.

'_Punctual,'_ he thought before answering.

"I'm on my way down, Hinata. I got your buns." He smirked, but apparently the joke was lost on her since she did not respond.

"I will give you the passes, meet me at my limo." She hung up. Naruto blinked. That was unusually cold, even for her.

"I've got to go Kiba, don't burn down the office." He heard his friend snort again before stepping onto the elevator. Before the doors closed, he made sucking sounds with his lips to catch Akamaru's attention to say good night. The large dog was sleeping in Kiba's office and ignored the sounds. His partner liked to keep the mutt with him when he worked late and Naruto didn't mind. Whatever pleased his workers to keep the business rolling, he would allow it.

Once the elevator arrived on the first floor, he waved good night to the guard at the entrance and stepped outside. He groaned as the rain poured, drowning out the sounds of the city. He noticed Hinata's limo and made his way to it. She opened the window and poked her hand through, handing him the cards. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Did something happen?" he dared to ask. She avoided his gaze and merely shook her head. He quickly realised that the Heiress was in full control of the Hinata driver seat and he didn't know this girl. This was not the Hinata he'd manage to pull out of her shell a few days ago.

"Hey." His voice held a command she couldn't ignore and against her will focused her eyes on his face. He noticed that her gaze was devoid of emotion again. He carefully grabbed the cards from her waiting hand and let his fingers brush her skin, trying to bring back the shyness. She pulled her hand away as though she'd be shocked and placed them on her lap.

"What happened?" he asked softly. The pitter-patter of the rain was deafening, but she heard him clearly. Again, his voice held an intimacy that made her heart skip a beat and it frightened her. He watched her intensely; she could read the silent questions in his eyes. They were trying to break in again and she tried to convince herself that she would resist them no matter what. She should have known better.

Not even a few seconds had gone by and she knew right away it was futile. She was mesmerised by his eyes, his scars, and the way the water ran down his face and dripped off the tip of his nose. She had to suppress the urge to wipe the water off his face. She could feel goose bumps at the nape of her neck when he spoke. The luscious tone of his voice made her want to listen to him all day.

She wondered if he would get offended if she recorded it and put the device under her pillow at night, just to hear the comforting sounds in her isolation. '_What a girlish fantasy, this is not becoming of a Hyuuga,_' she thought half-heartedly, bitter at her own sense of unrelenting pride.

Forgotten feelings were surfacing the longer she was in their presence. She was afraid of the old and new sensations merging inside of her; and she was terrified of what it meant. She didn't want to remember, she didn't want to be close to them.

"Stay away from me," she whispered. Naruto blinked, not sure he heard her correctly. The window closed and the limo pulled away. He sighed and watched the limo disappear. _'Back to square one.'_

"Fuck." He looked down at his hands, pressing his lips into a thin line.

She didn't take the buns.

* * *

Oh noes! AU cliché alert: memory loss! Hope you're not disappointed, I'm enjoying this plot. R & R if you want - Yes, I know this chapter is a bit short. I'm going to try and finish chapter 13 today but I'll probably just procrastinate again and write something else lawl.

Oh that panties thing, it was inspired by my daughter. She told me the importance of sharing panties with your friends and I have to say I was entirely ignorant. I'm still sure she's full of bullshit but I'm not one to argue with seven year old logic. I dare you to try!

- Beta'd June 30, 2009 by Jolly Green.


	3. Compromised Isolation

**A small crack in perfection  
**_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:  
_I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN** – I'm not blocked on TS, just felt like writing for this story :P Large chunks of text in italics are flash backs with Hinata btw.

Thank you Jolly Green for the beta, much appreciated.

* * *

**Chapter 3  
**_Compromised Isolation_

The rain poured relentlessly around him as he walked back towards the building he'd just left to meet with a woman he was determined to crack. It hadn't gone very well. In fact, Mission: Cinnamon Buns was a complete failure.

Hell, he'd hoped to make a little more ground with Hinata, but she had to go and surprise him by turning on her heels and running as far away as possible; figuratively of course. He ignored the fact that she got her driver to screech out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. Acknowledging _that_ would be a fatal blow to his ego.

Naruto sighed, his fingers lingering around on the bar of the door. The cool metal was a sharp contrast against his heated skin and he wondered for a brief moment if he'd_ completely_ screwed up. Something was off though. He couldn't quite put his finger on what, but the way she was acting triggered a memory of something Sakura had said earlier that day.

He should really pay more attention when she babbles on about work. He pulled the glass door open and took a very confident step into his building. The guard gave him a puzzled look, but shrugged as his boss walked by. The elevator swallowed up the blonde as he continued to think on what had happened in the space of several seconds.

"What a fucking week," he muttered to himself, disappointed overall, but not quite feeling entirely defeated. He did get the passes, which meant she had to see him again. There was still another chance to get through to her with the personal garden. He hoped anyways.

The more he thought about it, the more he realised that there was nothing offensive said; he'd barely spoken to her. Her eyes had been averted from him; her posture had been stiff, as though she was fighting some vicious internal battle. He shrugged to no one and tried to ignore the drips of water escaping his hair, which were sliding down his back like the cold fingers of an unknown lover. He caught his reflection from the metal sliding doors and groaned. His hair was flat, his skin was still peeling and his so-called rain jacket was soaked through. No wonder she freaked out; he looked like he crawled out of a hole!

He made a mental note to call the store in the morning and give them a piece of his mind. He'd been tricked into buying something expensive and was a little annoyed. He watched the lights blink as the floors climbed, ignoring the bone-deep chill that passed through him as the mouth of the elevator opened and he was welcomed by Kiba's large, white, drool-infested mutt.

"Akamaru, down boy!" he heard his friend yell from another room. Kiba poked his head through Naruto's office and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing back here?"

"What are _you_ doing in _my_ office?" Naruto ignored his friend as the dog greeted his second owner with a sniff to the crotch and a bark. Naruto swatted at the animal and grumbled; absolutely hating that greeting.

"I was looking for the pencil sharpener. Mine's broken."

He didn't believe him. Kiba never used pencils for drafting; he was strictly digital designs and often complained about how Naruto still sketched out the ideas.

"You lying sack of shit. Stop surfing for porn on my computer." The blonde pointed at his partner and frowned. Kiba let out a bark of laughter as the blonde shook his head, trying to get around Akamaru while walking towards the other man.

"I got the passes." He waved the white square objects and Kiba nodded before shifting positions.

"Stop ignoring my question. What are you doing back here?" Kiba was now standing in his office doorway, arms crossed. Naruto paused a moment before swatting at the animal who had taken an interest on the cooling buns. He was nearly tripping over him and it was irritating.

"I have work to do." He shrugged, trying to get across that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Naruto, I understand you're giving me the 'leave-me-the-fuck-alone' tone, but this is a major client." Kiba rolled his eyes as his friend stiffened, his lips pressed into a thin line. He knew the blonde would tell him eventually, he just had to pry it out of him.

"I didn't do anything! She was all uptight about something, I said like ten words to her!" he defended. Both of Kiba's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise; that was a lot easier than anticipated.

"You can piss off somebody just by looking at them, Naruto. You have that special ability to wear your thoughts and emotions on your sleeve."

Naruto snorted in disbelief; he was not some emotional guppy. He sidestepped the other man and entered his office and gave him a sour look. Kiba pointed to him and his mouth began to form the word "see", but he was cut off when Naruto shut the door quite hard, hitting Kiba on the behind.

"Ouch, you asshole!" Kiba retorted, rubbing the spot where the handle had struck. He kicked the door in retaliation like an angry three-year-old and called his dog to follow him back to his office. Naruto leaned his forehead against the cool metal, trying to gather his thoughts together.

He threw the bag of buns on his courtesy seat and peeled off his drenched clothing. He kept a small supply of extra clothing in his office due to several reasons. He slept here much too often and he was a complete klutz with inks. He shook his head to spike up the hair, but it rebelled and fell back to flat. So he resigned himself to the fact that he was doomed to shitty hair and pulled out a pair of black sweats and an orange sweatshirt. His fingers touched the intricate tattoo absent-mindedly around the navel.

He had a scar there originally from the accident that killed his parents; it was shaped like a swirl. Gaara had often mentioned he should tattoo the strange marking in high school. He finally did the last year the Japanese man stayed there. They had researched the Kyuubi myths and legends from Gaara's country and they found the pattern of an old seal used in ancient times. According to the legend attached to it, the Kyuubi had been sealed inside an infant to save an ancient ninja village - killing the little boy's father in the process.

The story had touched Naruto so deeply that he had the same seal tattooed on his belly. Gaara had thought him strange and said the design would be bad luck since it sealed evil and took another's life for it to work. Naruto had shrugged and pointed at the fact that the other boy had the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead. He then ignored his friend's near-schizophrenic-paranoid rant for the rest of the day. He tagged it to his friend's serious sleeping disorder, but didn't take offense at the rant; Gaara seemed to understand a little bit of everything about Naruto. He had been an accomplice in life so far; a true brother.

He sat down at his graph table. His right hand slipped in-between the wet dreads of his hair and continued to shake the water out as he watched the rain slosh against his office window. He noticed that his computer wasn't on. Frowning, he concluded that Kiba must have been watching the rain. There were no windows in the other man's office and he'd often come in here to think on projects that stumped him on these long full-nighters.

He reached over to the bright graph lamp he used for nights like these and pulled out one of the sketches he was working on. She had requested Japanese designs, which were difficult to put together in an indoor setting due to the different elements of water and sand. He picked up his pencil and looked at the tip, absentmindedly noting that it was getting dulled down, but was too lazy to reach over and sharpen it.

His thoughts drifted again towards the shy girl he remembered, comparing her to the cold woman of today. She was still in there, he could feel it, but getting her to shed the chains binding her to the past was more difficult then he could imagine.

"Snap out of it, Uzumaki." He lightly slapped his cheeks to shake the ongoing chill and tried to ignore how the lightning illuminated his office with an eerie light. His blue eyes looked out the window one last time and he set to his task, designing her sanctuaries.

* * *

Hinata was a torrent of emotion. Her calm demeanour betrayed the current storm brewing inside her. She could hear the rain outside the limo's window as they drove away from her past. A flash of lightning distracted her a moment. Her pale eyes watched the clouds as they groaned and released their charges. Lightning traveled the under part of the clouds, flashing quickly. She counted the seconds in her head, wondering how far away the angry lightning had struck the ground.

Her finger reached out to the window to tap the glass, silently counting. Something ticked in her head before she reached five, another flash of lightning illuminated the sky and her eyes followed the quick succession of the lights dancing on the clouds.

"_Put your seatbelt on, Hinata..."_

The voice was an echo in her head. She frowned as a dark shape formed in her mind...

_Long hair flowed in a disheveled state, her mother having put it in a hurried ponytail before coming to the car. She looked over her shoulder, her mouth opened, warning her daughter once more to put the belt on_...

Hinata frowned. Her finger formed circles on the window, another crack of lightning; she counted again.

"_Why do we have to move? Father's been there for two years already, I wanted to stay here! I wanted to be with Naruto!" She felt strangely rebellious, arguing with her mother in the car. She knew her mother couldn't devote all her attention to her because of ..._

"Twelve seconds. Twelve kilometres," she whispered. Her hands were now idle on her lap, her mind wandering back to the man she left alone in the rain earlier. His piercing eyes had left her feeling vulnerable, opened and she'd had to get away. He would discover all her secrets if she let him.

"_Hinata! I'm not going to fight about this again!" Her mother looked over her shoulder again, her eyes hard. Hinata blew a puff of breath in her cheek, crossing her arms, and refused to put on her belt. She was sitting in the back; her mother would never be able to reach her. Hanabi gurgled and cooed next to her. The young girl was unaware of the rebellion and reached out for her sister. Hinata glared at her, causing Hanabi to laugh, happy her sister finally paid attention..._

Another flash, the sound was near instant and it startled Hinata out of her daze.

"_Don't make me pull over Hinata, put your damned seatbelt on!" her mother threatened. Hinata continued to ignore her mother, sticking out her tongue. _

"_One." Her mother started, Hinata knew what was coming, but she didn't relent; refusing to cave. Naruto had taught her that much. _

"_Two." Her mother's voice drew out the syllables that warned impending doom. Hinata rolled her eyes, waiting for the two and a half warning. She started to reach for the belt, suddenly tired of the game, knowing full well her mother would pull over and make a scene. _

"_Fine"..._

The limo swerved suddenly to avoid a pothole, Hinata felt her heart leap out of her chest. The memory was fighting to surface and she couldn't really stop it. So she let it play like a movie, waiting to see how it ended. The rain was heavier, the sounds were too familiar and her head ached. The lightning struck again and another door opened in her mind.

_Her mother looked away from the road, watching her daughter for a split second while she was putting on her belt. She shook her head wondering where this stubbornness was coming from. _

_Hinata screamed. _

Her hands trembled, her stomach squeezed uncomfortably as an old fear tumbled out of her memories. Another flash of light caught her attention, her eyes widened as the scenery changed from an empty road to the two bright lights of a semi-truck slamming into the side of the mini-van her mother was driving.

She could see it. She could see what her heart had locked away.

_Her mother, both arms raised over her face, mouth agape in a soundless scream. She could see the glass shattering, cutting her mother's face, the metal squeezing, and the sounds of the groans it made as the van was pushed off the road. The semi kept ploughing through them, her mother had veered into the other side of the road while yelling at her daughter without noticing. _

Everything was in slow motion inside her mind as the memories unfolded. She saw the metal squeeze down on her mother, crushing her instantly, her hands limply flailed about as the car rolled. Hinata was still seat beltless and was thrown about the cab of vehicle, she could feel her bones cracking and breaking, they ached in response as the memory flashed.

Bile was starting to climb up from the depths of her belly while her hand pressed against her lips and she sobbed unconsciously. She could hear her baby sister crying, screaming for their mother to calm her. Hinata was tumbling inside the cab, she winced. The ghosts of her past were restless in this rain.

_Her small body was thrown clear of the tumbling vehicle, sparing her life in the process. The destroyed mini-van stopped rolling and Hinata gasped in pain as her body lay broken on the grass. She opened her eyes, fighting the wave of darkness threatening to swallow her. She could hear Hanabi still screaming in the stilled car. Her mother was calling her faintly and Hinata forced herself to crawl, tears mixing with the blood leaking from her cut skin. The rain was a violent torrent, unforgiving as she made her way to her family._

Her skin crawled and she closed her eyes, attempting to stop the onslaught of memories. They wouldn't slow down and she started to feel her chest tighten. Her skin was clammy and her breath was erratic as panic set in. She was losing control of her emotions quickly. Tears were welling up and she let out a soundless sob against her will.

"_M-m-mother?" she barely managed to squawk it out. Her mother turned her head towards her daughter from the crushed frame of the mini-van. She smiled at her, her eyes spoke volume about the dire situation. Hinata could smell gasoline. She broke down into hysterics as her child sized brain registered how injured her mother was. _

"_Hinata! Hinata!" her mother yelled, trying to calm the girl long enough to see if Hanabi was ok; to see if she could remove her from her future coffin. _

"_Calm down! You need to check Hanabi. Get her out of the van baby, get her out!" _

"_O-o-ok mother." She sniffled, trying to gather her wits. She cried out as she tried to stand up. Something snapped inside her as fire began to burn by her mother. _

"_Hurry sweetie, Hanabi needs you." _

Hinata shook her head, trying to free herself from the gruesome image of the woman in the driver seat. Her face had been severely cut, her one arm hung at an odd angle bleeding profusely. She couldn't see past the window, but she couldn't imagine the rest of her body.

She kept that smile the whole time in the flash of memory, her eyes always trusting that she would do as she was told.

"_Get her away from here, baby," her mother had nearly whispered._

"_What about you mommy?" Hinata called out, holding her sister tightly as they stepped away from the van._

"_I'll be fine baby, I'll be fine. Go under the trees sweetie and wait for help ok?"_

"_O-O-Ok mommy, ok," she stuttered, her eyes never leaving those of her mother. She cried, her head hurt and she felt dizzy from blood loss. Her sister was unusually quiet, as though she understood to not be a bother right then and Hinata was grateful. _

"_I love you sweet heart." Was the last thing she heard from her mother before the explosion knocked her off her feet. Her back hit something hard and she heard a crack as pain invaded her head before falling blissfully into unconsciousness. _

Hinata screamed inside the limo, startling the driver to a complete stop. She fumbled with the door, tears unleashed and bile locked itself in her throat. She ran out into the rain, gasping for breath as it poured down and she screamed again into the night before spilling the content of her stomach.

"Miss Hyuuga?" the driver called out as she collapsed to her knees, hugging herself.

"I..." she started saying to a ghost before her, flickering in and out of her sight as her mother's dead eyes bore into her. Guilt washed over her, thirteen years of suppressed grief pouring out in an instant. The ghost smiled sadly and she could have sworn she saw it mouth 'thank you'. Her grief had never surfaced, having been blocked all these years ago after that incident.

Her mother's face invaded her, her warmth lingering unwanted. The millions of butterfly kisses she had been showered with as a child assaulted her senses, a forgotten lullaby hummed to her right, her mother's laugh flooded the darkness with a bright light that drowned out the pitter-patter of rain. Ghostly hands hugged her; she felt a hand pet her head in an achingly familiar way, her name whispered with affection.

"I... killed her..." she whispered before the driver reached her as she collapsed from the strain caused by a flood gate of memories.

* * *

Naruto scratched at the scars on his face in frustration, an old habit he'd been hard pressed to break from since god was a child. He couldn't get the last few designs to pan out no matter how much he tried. His inspiration had decided to take an impromptu vacation at two in the morning.

His eyes caught bits of pieces of used erasers scattered around his desk, crumpled papers were all over the floor. Whilst in the middle of considering how to clean up the mess, Kiba burst through his door. Naruto, whom had been startled at the sudden charge of energy, let out a very girly scream. Kiba nearly jumped out of his skin and screamed as well in unison with his friend. Akamaru barked in alarm and rushed into the office, teeth bared and ready for action.

"For fuck sake, Kiba, will you learn to knock!" he managed to spit out once he caught his breath, his heart was hitting his ribcage hard.

Kiba ignored him and bee lined for the forgotten cinnamon rolls on the chair.

"Jesus, Naruto. You scared the shit out of me." He shot the blond an accusatory glare and Naruto fumed.

"Me? _ME_?" he was yelling and Kiba plopped down on the adjacent chairs, ripping the bag opened as his fingers were seeking what he'd been craving for several hours.

"Oh, relax." He put his feet on the coffee table and munched away, his eyes closing in satisfaction as the sweet and bitter taste tingled in his mouth. _'Who ever had been bored enough to create these sweet things was the new deity to be worshipped,'_ thought Kiba.

"Damn I could smell these across the building; it's been total torture for hours," he added before stuffing one entire roll in his mouth. Naruto grimaced, disgusted suddenly by the crass eating behaviour.

"So," bits of food came barrelling out of his mouth as he spoke. Naruto had trouble focusing on the words coming out of that mess Kiba sported as a mouth.

"Are you getting anywhere with the designs?"

"What?" All he had heard was "Sow are ou ehing nywor wif se sezanes"

Kiba swallowed hard, coughed a moment and repeated his question. Naruto nodded and pointed at a neat pile of paper. He still had to do Hinata's personal garden, but the way things were going he wasn't going to be able to pick her apart for the perfect design.

"What about her personal one?"

"What the hell? Stop reading my mind." Naruto scowled as Kiba cracked up laughing. Naruto seemed unaware that he was easy to read. He couldn't hide a single emotion even if he tried.

"I'll figure something out." The blonde brushed the bits of used erasers off his graph table and his hands. His solution was quite simple: he was going to stalk her.

"I don't like that look," Kiba sputtered out, knowing full well a plan had formed in his partner's head. He was concentrating, eyes focused on a task. It was dangerous when Naruto started to think.

"Stop doing that! _Shit_!" He hated it when Kiba read him like a book. The dog owner laughed.

* * *

Sakura was confused.

Hinata wasn't in her office this morning and she was facing some smaller version of her boss sitting behind the desk.

"Ah, excuse me miss, but where..." she started. The younger girl analysed Sakura before she decided to answer her. This must be the assistant.

"My sister will be away a little while, she's taken ill," she stated quite matter-of-fact. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Your sister? You must be Hanabi." She recalled Hinata telling her about her new sister ages ago. Time certainly flew by when you stopped paying attention.

"How do you know my name?" The young girl squint her eyes in mistrust. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _'Oh yeah, these Hyuugas are a fun bunch.'_

"I knew your sister before she lost her memory." Hanabi's eyes widen a fraction at the woman's answer. Before Sakura could inquire further into why Hinata was sick, she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Miss Haruno, there's a Naruto Uzumaki asking to call on you." Her co-worker smirked.

"Oh." She turned towards the mini-Hianata and smiled apologetically. "Please excuse me, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." She turned from the girl and walked out of the office. Hanabi returned to the documents her sister had requested to bring to her at home. She spied a blob of blonde hair hugging the pink blob and she frowned. There was something familiar about the two.

"Ah, Sakura!" Naruto broke free from the hug and he gave her a dazzling smile that only meant one thing.

"What do you want? Why are you here? Wait, how did you even get in here?" She was happy to see him, but at the same time she was a bit nervous that he was walking around unsupervised.

"I'm on official work visits." He pointed at a pass Hinata had given him. She puzzled over the fact he had one.

"Oh, you need to see the where the landscaping needs to be done?" She motioned to him to follow her to her desk. She knew his work policies like the back of her hand; he was a creature of habit.

"Yeah, I was hoping to meet with Hinata first. There are a few details I need to discuss with her." He nodded to her co-workers who shamelessly eyed him. Sakura shot them a knowing look but they ignored her. Naruto wasn't hard on the eyes and most of the women in her office blushed lightly at him. He exuded masculinity without really meaning too; all he had to do was walk into a room. Not that she could blame the ladies.

He was fairly tall, his frame lean and muscular due to the line of work he was in. His step was aloof, but his blue eyes sparkled with an intense promise of mischief that most women found endearing. The scars on his cheeks only added more mystery to him and he was pleasant to listen to when he opened his mouth. If she knew what velvet sounded like in speech, she'd compare it to that.

Sakura had grown immune to his good looks over the years but she still lingered in the memories of their time together. If anything, she missed the sex since he was skilled not only in the garden, but in bed as well. She peeked over her shoulder; he was smiling at them, using his usual charm. She shook her head.

"Hinata's not here." She paused when she saw his smile falter a bit.

"Something I should know about?" she asked, a slow smirk formed on her lips as he fidgeted. His reaction was a bit weird.

"Why is she not here?" he tried to look disinterested but it failed miserably.

"She's sick or something." She was really confused when his expression fell.

"Sick?"

"Yes, sick."

"What happened to her?" he asked, genuinely concerned. He wondered if it had anything to do with him and last night's incident.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure." She pulled out her chair slowly and thought on the night's events. "She was acting weird before she left last night, especially after all the kafuffle with the yearbooks."

"Yearbook thing?" He was getting suspicious.

She shot him a dirty look over her shoulder as they sat down at her desk. "You're making me sound like a parrot," she warned. He grinned sheepishly.

"Yes, I told you on the phone that she remembered a few things."

He blinked.

"I even warned you to make sure not to say anything stupid because she was skittish like a horse in a storm?" She could see he didn't remember any of that.

"I... uh." He scratched behind his ear, trying to recall her babbling on the phone, he'd been distracted by a draft by then, blocking her out. She sighed.

"What did you say to her?" Her eyes narrowed in a warning and he frowned. She was the second person to assume he'd done something.

"I didn't say anything, I asked her what was wrong and she told me to stay away." He shot her a look she recognized.

"Oh no, no, no. This isn't my fault!" she defended. He rolled his eyes and laid his hands flat on the desk before leaning his forehead against them in frustration.

"Let's not play the blame game today. I got bigger problems," he whined. "I need to see Hinata for her design. I can't do it properly without getting to know her first." He kept talking but she could barely hear his muffled speech.

"I can't understand you. Stop being an ass and sit up." She poked him until he sat up; she couldn't help but notice that he was feeling sorry for himself.

"Can't you just set up a meeting?"

"I could, but I get the feeling she'd just send in a replacement or a rep. She seemed pretty shook up."

"Maybe I can be of help."

Sakura and Naruto turned their attention to the smaller woman, who had appeared out of thin air. Naruto blinked.

"Hinata?" His voice was heavily laced with confusion.

"No, I'm her younger sister."

"Oh. You two could pass off as twins." He grinned. Hanabi was taken a little by surprise, he seemed very familiar.

"I highly doubt that," she retorted, trying to shake the déjà-vu sensation.

"What's the matter with your sister?" he asked out of the blue. Hanabi squint her eyes in consideration to his request.

"She is suffering from stress related problems; it seems that her memory has begun to return. She experienced a severe episode last night and must stay in bed until she recovers," she replied coolly. Sakura swallowed hard as guilt began to spread. Naruto glanced her way and pressed his lips together. They were both at fault.

"When can I see her? I have a design deadline for her to review the drafts and her personal design has to be presented as well." He was very serious and Hanabi could sense there was no room for argument.

"I will advise Hinata of your request and prepare a meeting at her home." The young woman gave him a curt nod and spun on her heels quickly as she retreated to her sister's office.

The two stared dumbly at her back. Sakura shook her head while Naruto wondered what the hell had just happened.

"Think they're fun at parties?" she asked him, her eyes danced with a twinkle he was quite fond of.

"Oh, oodles. We might even need to hide the booze after a while to stop their crazy antics." He smirked. It was hard to imagine them like drunken college students.

They both burst out laughing.

* * *

A soft knock woke her from her light sleep.

"Come in." Her voice was still shaken up, but she was in her own home, surrounded by familiar things; there was no need to wear her mask.

"Hinata," her cousin started "your sister just called. She says that she wants you to make time to meet with Uzumaki for your contract with his company."

She froze. Her cousin puzzled over her sudden change, but ignored it.

"I suggested that he pack for a few days since you will be unable to meet with him. She agreed that with him staying here he will be able to meet the requirements of the contract set by you," he continued.

"What?" She didn't think she heard him right.

"I said that Uzumaki will be staying here while you recover. He can design and ask his questions." He wasn't in the mood to put up with his cousin's strange behaviour.

"No, no. He can't stay here. I refuse!"

Neji ground his teeth in irritation. Since she had taken over the business, her old self had begun to resurface. Both Hanabi and he were quite pleased that the layers of her shell were being peeled away by her co-workers. Although her father had nothing but good intentions on recreating a Hinata that was confident, proud and direct, it had backfired. Instead he'd created an emotionless android.

Since discovering that Sakura was her assistant, Neji had made a point to ensure she would work even closer with the pink-haired woman. He was even more delighted to hear that her old crush was the new contract she'd landed for the designs of the gardens.

"You don't have a choice in the matter, Hinata. He will be arriving here tonight." He turned and shut the door quite suddenly, not allowing her to object.

She was furious.

* * *

Oooh the plot thickens. And what? Neji's a meddling in her affairs? Oh ho!

Beta'd June 30, 2009 - By Jolly Green


	4. The All Seeing Lies

**A small crack in perfection**  
_By eternalshiva_

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN**- Ok, I'm almost done with chapter 14 of Twice Shy but this chapter needed out of my head. lawl hope no one kills me on my oodles of puns in this, cookies to those who finds them all! Sorry Jolly, you can't participate 'cause you beta.

**AN Edit** – New sub plot added, please re-read the chapter D:

**BN**- B-b-but... Aww... I love puns. Phooey! ^_^

Thank you Jolly Green for the beta, I appreciate the hard work you do.

* * *

**Chapter 4**  
_The all seeing lies_

This was quite unusual for the genius of the Hyuuga; he had lied, thoroughly and without shame. Although he'd told Hinata that the boy was committed to spend the next few days here, he'd yet to actually confirm… or ask him. He had to act fast before his plan backfired. He quickly walked away from his cousin's bedroom and sought out the nearest phone.

It wasn't a complete untruth, he reminded himself. Hanabi _had_ requested he find out when Hinata would want to set aside time to meet with the man, but once he looked inside that room and opened his mouth, he had been hard press to resist his teasing after she had frozen up. Somehow he'd gotten carried away and it ended up with him making the ridiculous statement that her old crush was spending the rest of the contracted allotted time with her in this home.

"A momentary lapse in judgement," he told himself. He ignored the slight echo from the large hallway as he continued his search for the phone. He wondered momentarily why he had foolishly let his near non-existent teasing side have a say in his usually flawless logic.

Of course, if this worked, he'd take full credit and instil the self proclaimed lapse of sanity into pure genius. It was his idea, after all, regardless of how it turned out.

He turned right in escape of the darkened hallway. His bare feet soundlessly gripped the wooden planks of the hardwood in the kitchen and locked onto his target with knowing victory. He reached out for the waiting receiver and pressed the familiar numbers that once belonged to his ill uncle. Preparing himself, he took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to word his request to his younger cousin so that she would willingly provide him with vital information.

"Good afternoon," the female voice chimed at the other end. He quickly calculated the highest probability for this mission's fail rate. There was a slim chance he could remain ambiguous enough and keep the younger sibling out of the loop. It was a very low percentage; she was nearly as brilliant as he was.

"Hanabi, I would require you to provide me with Mr. Uzumaki's contact information."

"For what purpose, cousin?" Her voice sounded metallic at the end of the line. The hair on the back of his neck rose with a warning row of goose bump. Her voice was laced with a curious, calculating tone; which meant he was failing the mission to keep her out of it.

"I have a suggestion that could appeal to the completion of the contract." He tried to keep his voice uninterested.

"He's still here, eating with Sakura." He could hear the mouth piece sliding across the younger woman's chin as she leaned sideways on her chair, trying to catch a glimpse of the two targets outside. "Would you like me to get him?" She didn't really give him an option to answer since she'd already pressed the hold button, causing dreadful elevator music to play a tuneless song on the phone. He held back a groan; she had already figured out his plan and was more than willing to participate in it.

She dropped the receiver into its holding area and let a slow smirk cross her lips. She had an inkling of an idea what her cousin wanted to do and she was in complete agreement. She crossed her office door and silently made her way to the two friends.

Sakura was in the middle of explaining to her ex how slugs were known for medicinal healing purposes, thoroughly grossing out the blonde with her descriptive imagery use. The last thing he wanted to do was put the large forkful of spaghetti in his mouth while picturing slugs slithering around using their "healing" powers of divinity.

Who came up with that shit? It sounded like it came straight out of some Japanese manga Gaara would force him to read back in high school. He opted for a swig of his cooled water instead and tried to push the mental images as far away as possible.

"Naruto," the small voice popped out of nowhere and startled the ignored their looks of alarm and continued. "My cousin Neji would like a word with you on my phone." The blond coughed lightly as his sip of water tried to work its way down properly.

"Neji?" he glanced over to Sakura, she shrugged and begun to peel her orange, the scent tickled Naruto's nose and he had to suppress the urge to sneeze.

Her silent stare spoke _'don't look at me'_ to him; she hadn't heard from Neji since they were kids. He shrugged in response and nodded to Hanabi. Picking himself up off the modest chair, he followed the mini-Hinata into the mouth of her temporary office.

She put her hand on the metal of the knob and pointed to the phone on her desk. He was a bit confused as to why Neji would want to speak with him, but he wasn't one to ignore an old acquaintance. Picking up the receiver, he pressed the hold button and his voice smoothly greeted Neji.

"It's been a long time, Naruto," the much deeper sound surprised him. Naruto smiled as he recognised the voice, somewhat.

"Neji! Yeah, it has been a while. What's going on?" he gently passed a hand through his yellow tresses and tried to sound somewhat uninterested. He failed horrendously. He was quite happy to hear from him.

"I understand you are seeking a meeting with Hinata in regards to her personal landscape design."

"Yeah, I'm not sure when she'd be able to make the time with her being sick." He paused for a moment, thinking on the time left to complete the drafts. "I need to have all the plans completed before next Friday." He scratched behind his right ear sheepishly; a small laugh laced his response.

'_Perfect,'_ Neji thought as his plan continued to unfurl. He could almost hear Hinata's long list of reasons as to why Naruto had to go. Hopefully one of them was because he was instigating too many memories.

"I have a proposal." Naruto raised his brow, interest piqued. Anything at this point would be an improvement on his plan to stalk Hinata. He wasn't getting anywhere with it considering he'd yet to even _find_ her. Good thing his lifelong dream had never been to become a detective; he would have been sorely disappointed.

"Oh? What sort of proposal?" He glanced over at Hanabi, who was listening intently as she stared at him. He felt his face warm a little as a blush creeped on his face. It wasn't that he thought Hanabi to be particularly attractive, he just wasn't used to being watched so closely. She had the same pale eyes as her sister and he was suddenly very self-conscious. She was analysing him, trying to see exactly what it was that caused her sister to become so flustered the last few days after meeting him.

"I propose that you spend several days here at Hinata's home; not only to complete the landscape drafts, but also to fulfill your own requirements to meet and learn about my cousin."

"Uh..." Naruto started, his logical side agreed with Neji. Yes, this would be a great opportunity to learn about the mysterious heiress, but his other side was telling him to turn tail and run. Their last encounter screamed that this was a bad idea in every sense of the word. He also briefly considered that the last time this sceptical side screamed at him to run, to lay low and accept defeat, was when Sakura challenged him to enter the contest that led him to his current success.

Who was he to listen to reason? There was no time like the present!

"Ok. I'll accept your proposal." Unknowingly, he smiled and let out another small laugh. His nerves were tingling with anticipation at seeing Hinata again. This was complete, total luck on his part. Things were looking up.

He didn't hear the small sigh of relief coming out of the other side of the receiver. He had avoided looking like an ass in front of his infuriated cousin.

"Please be ready for seven this evening, I will send a limo to pick you up."

"Ah, no thank you," Naruto politely declined. "Just tell me the address; I'll take my own car there." He felt more comfortable with his own mode of transportation. "Let me make arrangements with my partner. He'll have to handle the workload while I concentrate on the last bit of this project." Hanabi tilted her head slightly and turned away, grabbing a pen off the desk and a piece of paper. She wrote the directions and handed it to him while he kept patting his chest, trying to find the pen he'd put there that morning. It had conveniently disappeared.

"Ah never mind, Miss Hanabi here already provided it," he gave her a disarming grin as he mouthed 'thank you' to her. She nodded and paused unwillingly. Unable to resist the spreading pleasant mood, she smiled back. There, right there, she finally saw what flustered her sister so much. He was the embodiment of the sun and radiated a much needed light in her sister's darkness.

She hoped her cousin's lackluster plan worked or Hinata would fall deeper into the spiraling hell created by their father.

* * *

Sakura watched him walk back to her, mischief lacing his steps. She grinned at him.

"What happened?" She popped in a cherry in her mouth, digging the pit out with her tongue. He returned the grin ten-fold and neatly hopped over the chair he'd been using earlier.

"I'm going to pay the robot a personal visit for a few days," he chimed, sitting down to join her again.

"Oh yeah? How'd you manage to pull that off?" She popped another fruit in her mouth, closing her eyes while sucking the juice out of the flesh. He watched her chew with slight fascination.

"Are you swallowing the pits?" he ignored her question; she slit one eye open to watch him curiously.

"Why?"

"Ever see that movie _'The Witches of Eastwick'_?" She slowly shook her head. He grinned mischievously.

"The three witches in that movie eat a shit load of cherry pits one evening and they curse this couple," Sakura tilted her head slightly in interest , "by transferring all the pits from their stomach to the couple's. This forces them to projectile vomit all the pits they ate. It's super nasty." He laughed when she scrunched up her face in disgust.

She glared at him, huffed and spat out two pits on the table. "You asshole, I was keeping them up in my cheek." He laughed, shaking his head lightly; he knew how to gross her out perfectly. This was revenge for the damned slug info from the library of the Sakurawiki.

"Answer my question," she prompted as she continued to eat the cherries in her little container. She had maybe half a dozen left to eat and she would enjoy every minute of them.

"Neji suggested I stay there until my end of the bargain is complete." He looked away a minute, back in Hanabi's general direction. He felt a little nervous about the extended stay. There was something about Hinata that intrigued him and he wasn't sure what kind of intrigue it was.

She was a little weird... a little dark, but there was something about the way she carried herself that made him curious.

"You're going to sleep there?" she asked, surprised. She would have never imagined Hinata agreeing to something so... suggestive.

"Yeah, should be interesting." He didn't notice the small smile that fluttered on his lips. Sakura's eyes dropped at his subconscious reaction while he was looking up to the ceiling with his arms behind his head.

She _knew _that look and the meaning hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Do you like her?" she asked casually. Naruto hummed, his thoughts still lingering on the pale eyes.

"I don't know; she's intriguing me for sure."

"Intriguing you?" A slow smile formed on her lips, this was juicy.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how yet though." He looked over to his friend, eyes twinkling with mischief. He leaned forward on the desk, his fingers laced together in front of him and he teased with a low octave, "Are you jealous, Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura-chan?" she laughed. "Damn, that's so old. Gaara used to call me that."

"Yeah, I miss that coot." He leaned back again, his question forgotten. "I'm not sure yet if I like her that way. I'm curious to know more about her. She's so different from back then."

"That whole memory thing," she started, her fingers peeled back the top of her cherry yogurt and she licked the lid clean. He frowned at her implication. "It's hard not to wonder how far you can jog her memory." She licked her lips before dipping her spoon inside the plastic container.

"Well, I'm not there to make her remember," he tried to argue, but he knew that was a little part as to why he wanted to be there for that long. "Well ok, maybe that would be a bonus." He recalled her blushes from back then.

"Man, I wish you never told me she had been crushing on me back then," he grumbled, his own cheeks flushed a little at the memories of the obvious signs he'd been too stupid to notice. Sakura puzzled a minute before laughing.

"Oh, I see. I've made you curious about her even more." She giggled. He rolled his eyes and grabbed at the one slice of tomato that had dropped out of her club sandwich.

"Seven layers for a club sandwich? That seems a bit extreme." That tomato looked lonely, so he plucked it out of her sandwich bag and saved it from the garbage can.

"Club sandwiches work in layered teams," she announced. "I name them all by how many layers I use." He snorted and popped the one loner tomato in his mouth.

"Let me guess, this one's called Team Seven?" He stared at the monstrous heap of food and she nodded. She could feel her mouth watering in anticipation.

"Why all the tomatoes?" he puzzled. She shrugged and the silent glance she gave him clearly stated she had no intention of telling him why she was obsessed with the fruit.

"Well, I have to go tell Kiba he's the boss for a week or two." He turned his cell back on and checked the few text messages waiting for his attention. He gave Sakura a small wave and headed towards the elevator.

"Ok. Call me when you're settled in." She waved him off, her lips pursed in thought as considered which section of her Team Seven she'd break apart and eat first.

* * *

There was a deep sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. He was coming here. Not only invading her personal space, but staying here. Sleeping here. Eating here. She couldn't settle down.

She'd never had anyone, besides her family, stay for an extended period of time and she didn't like the idea. A small knock to her bedroom door snapped her out of her temporary battle.

"Yes?" she invited her caretaker to enter. Neji pushed the door open part way and looked at his bed-ridden cousin.

"I have to leave, Hinata. Your father has requested I help him with documentation."

She blinked. This meant she would have no chaperon with the man who constantly pecked at her walls.

"No," she replied. Her cousin rolled his eyes visibly.

"I apologize for the inconvenience considering we will have a guest, but your father left no room for arguments." He was lying through his teeth. He wanted to return home to his wife while Naruto was here. He had made the blonde the unofficial caretaker without either of them knowing or their consent.

Her lips thinned as she pressed them together. He casually said his good-byes and hid his face quickly as he closed the door. A smirk was threatening to break his calm demeanour. He heard the soft thump of a pillow hitting the closed mouth of her bedroom and he let out the quiet laugh.

He could get used to this, very quickly.

* * *

"So, I get your office?" Kiba eyed his chair, his hands were rubbing together.

"Only if you stay off the porn," the blonde answered between clenched teeth. He didn't like the thought of Kiba pawing through all of his affairs, but he needed access to the files and his computer to run the business while he focused on this contract.

"I'm not promising anything. That way you can't be disappointed." He marched over to the leather chair and sat down, his feet plopped crossed on the top of the desk.

Naruto blinked. He opened his mouth to counter, but he just stared at the other man. Kiba grinned and mentally gave himself another point on the imaginary score board of 'moments he's made Naruto speechless'.

Naruto couldn't argue with that logic, no matter how he tried. He ended up just shrugging and continued to pack his briefcase with the few items he knew he needed. He was going to take his portable graph table and most of his materials with him since he'd be working on her garden.

"Well, just make sure to scan the computer every night, I don't want our network compromised." He leaned over and opened a drawer under his desk, taking out a few pencils, an eraser and some spare sheets of draft paper. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, you're such a prude. I don't look up that shit in here." Naruto looked up from his task and narrowed his eyes, mistrusting the other man. Kiba ignored him and continued. "Besides, if you were really worried about that sort of thing, you'd hire a computer guy and get rid of that crappy IT company that set the damn thing up."

It wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation and Kiba didn't think it would be their last. However, Naruto looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before speaking.

"Almost sounds like you have someone in mind," he said, looking at Kiba.

Kiba was so stunned by the comment that his feet slid off the desk and his mouth hung open. Naruto mentally gave himself another point on the imaginary score board of_ 'moments he's made Kiba speechless'_.

Finally, Kiba looked up at the ceiling, as if to offer thanks to some deity, he looked over to his friend with a smile. "You're right. I do. But our contract with Yakushi Technologies specifically states that we aren't allowed to hire any other technical advisors." Kiba admired many things about his friend, one of which being his trusting nature. However, the man could be _too_ trusting sometimes. Specifically when it came to his company.

Naruto frowned. That clause in the contract had irked him, but the lawyers had been insistent that it remain. Now it was coming back to bite him in the ass. He noticed Kiba still had that 'plotting' look he got from time to time and decided to press the issue.

"You think you can get us some 'advice' without me having to 'hire' the guy on the spot?" he asked, choosing his words carefully. Kiba only grinned in response, causing Naruto to smile back. "You have my network secure by the time this contract is finished and next time _I'll_ grab the buns."

Kiba leaned back in the comfortable chair, pleased with how this day was turning out.

"So, how long am I in the big chair for?" he asked as he twirled around in it to make a point. Naruto sighed. The damned thing was going to be all out of whack when he got back, he just knew it.

"Stop doing that," he warned. Ignoring him and the question in kind, Kiba pushed off again. The chair tilted and Naruto growled.

"How are you going to crack _that_ nut?" Kiba slowed down the spin and watched his friend. Naruto glanced at the other man and smiled sheepishly. That was a hard question to answer.

"Well, I'm not really planning to do anything really." He set his brief case down and sat on the stool in front of his graph table. "I pissed her off pretty badly." He looked down at his hands in thought. Kiba watched him closely.

"She needs a good lay, in my opinion."

Naruto blinked. A what now?

"That's so crass." Naruto shook his head.

"Well it's true." He shrugged. "Plus you like her anyways, might as well try to get in her pants after the contract is done." Naruto couldn't believe that garbage had fallen out of his close friends' mouth.

"Do you actually hear the shit that comes out of your mouth?"

"Sometimes," Kiba chirped, spinning around again to Naruto's chagrin.

"Why do you, and Sakura, think I want to get into her pants?"

Kiba stopped his spin and looked over his shoulder; his eyebrows were raised so high Naruto thought the man was going to break some world record.

"Are you fucking with me?" He looked around the room as though Naruto had hidden some cameras for some stupid reality prank show. Naruto looked puzzled.

"No, I'm not."

Kiba shook his head and had to repress the urge to throw his hands up in the air.

"Jesus. You're intrigued, Naruto. _Intrigued._" Kiba drawled out the last syllables like a favoured liquor. Naruto still didn't get the point.

"For you, to be even remotely interested, speaks volume." He snorted. "You even stopped looking at Sakura with that fore-longed look." Kiba looked up to the ceiling.

"Hell, you're throwing yourself in this project at such a personal level that you're actually sleeping at her home." He pointed at the blonde. "_Sleeping_ there. In her personal space. For _several_ days." His tone ended with a _'need I say more' _type of conclusive sound.

"And you gave me the reins to Rasengan Landscape, unsupervised, for an undetermined amount of time." He grinned. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Oh my god! You're right, I've gone insane!" he mocked. Kiba ignored him and spun in the chair.

"Deny it all you want, Naruto. I'm sure you're getting into her pants by the end of this." Naruto didn't believe a word of it. He was positive Hinata hated him after their last encounter. He felt his heart squeeze awkwardly at the memory of her retreating form.

"Sai should be done the drafts by the end of this week," Naruto quickly added. "Once you pick them up, write up the proposal. I'll try to get done at the same time."

His partner nodded and twirled once more in the chair before getting up. He knew he was annoying the other man, but he enjoyed it. As Kiba walked out of his office, waving him off, he failed to notice the dark look on Naruto's face. His grin turned into that old familiar mask that protected him from showing what he was truly feeling.

* * *

'_It's getting late,'_ he thought as dusk settled over the town. He suppressed the chill that passed through him as the wind picked up. The stars had begun to peek out, greeting the faded moon in the orange-purple sky. Naruto took in a deep breath, locked the door to his home and walked towards his car. He dropped his two bags in the back, dug out the keys from his pocket and gave them a twirl once on his index before silencing the jingle with the rest of his fingers.

He hoped over the edge of his 1964 Half Ford Mustang and pushed in the key, bringing the motor to purr. He loved this car. He had asked Gaara to draw him a picture of the Kyuubi in his own interpretation a few years ago when he bought this old beat up piece of junk. He had it redone and painted it a kind of copper orange, one of his favourite colours. The Kyuubi was on the hood, only outlined in black.

The damned thing was scary as hell and he loved it.

The convertible rolled out from his driveway and he considered putting up the roof. As the wind ruffled his hair and cooled his nerves, he decided against it; he was feeling a bit apprehensive as to his destination. The last time he saw Hinata, she'd slammed her inner door in his face and it screamed to be left alone.

He pushed in the mix CD and smiled as _Magic Carpet Ride_ strummed out of his speakers. His fingers tapped along as the light turned from yellow to red. His thoughts wandered over the project. He'd seen a few pictures of where she wanted the garden done; it would be a lot of work. The space was well lighted, considering it was a room made of panels of glass. The issues he had to consider were creating privacy and dealing with the drafts winter would cause.

The light shifted to green and he pressed on the gas. He hummed along with '_Every Breath You Take'_ as he merged up onto the highway and made his way to Hinata's home. He wondered if he'd be able to befriend the woman at least. Their relationship had started on the wrong foot for sure.

He decided to let go of the friendship he had with her in the past and treat this Hinata like an entirely different person; a complete stranger. She really was since she'd forgotten all about him. That fact originally depressed him a little, but the challenge of breaking through the walls she had put up was hard to refuse.

His decision on getting to know her was influenced a little on the fact she was a very attractive woman, but until the contract was finished he would have to stay very professional.

He hoped he would anyways... he wasn't known for his patience.

A pale eye stared at him from the entry; he fidgeted a little while shifting his weight from one foot to the next. Her gaze almost burned him. He removed his sun glasses, passed a hand through his messy blond hair and grinned at her.

"Hi Hinata."

She blinked, her breath caught in her throat as the man waited to be let in. The sun was setting behind him and it made his skin look even more golden than usual. His hair was tussled and his eyes twinkled with amusement. The swelling was gone and she was devastated.

He was terribly handsome.

"You're late," she cut in before he could ask her if anything was the matter. A yellow eyebrow rose in curiosity.

"I didn't know I had to be here at a specific time," he teased. She wasn't amused and narrowed her eyes at him, calculating his intentions.

"Can... I come in?" As much as he enjoyed her watching him this intently, it was cold out here.

"Oh!" She moved aside quickly and looked away, embarrassed. She didn't notice how her cheeks tinted a pale pink. Naruto pretended he didn't notice her slip up in humanity and stepped inside. He was surprised at the simplicity of her home. It exuded femininity, a hint of warmth and comfort. Her garden was already a challenge as it was. Now, from what he could see, it would be even more complicated with the mixed meanings. Her flowers picked screamed melancholy while her home felt bitter-sweet.

He heard the entry close behind him and he looked over his shoulder, the petite woman was in a dark lilac silk pyjama. She met his gaze with a challenge, causing him to smirk.

"Where am I supposed to stay?" he asked as he turned towards her. His eyes tried very hard to stay on her face, but they had a mind of their own and they wandered down. The pyjama was loose, but it rested on some of her more protruding curves. It was a little bit too pleasant to look at. He cleared his throat when she crossed her arms. She could feel his stare on her and it was uncomfortable.

"This way." She pointed forward down the hall, expecting him to lead the way. She wasn't about to strut in front of him after that look he'd given her.

"I'm in the lead, eh?" a slow smile stretched his lips, she frowned. "Didn't know you wanted to keep me in your sight so much, Hinata."

'_Smooth. Real smooth Uzumaki. That's exactly how you compliment someone,_' he mentally kicked himself. His mouth had operated on its own without his consent. He heard her small gasp behind him. He decided to not turn around to see her reaction; play it safe since he'd already placed his foot carefully inside of his large mouth.

"Uh... Sorry, that came out of nowhere. I'm used to being with Sakura and we tease like that." He nervously laughed as he searched for his room; he couldn't get there fast enough.

He sounded apologetic, she decided. Her cheeks were burning and she tried to avoid looking at him, but his charisma was hard to ignore. Her eyes wandered over his back and she could see the muscles moving sensually under the snug shirt. The blood was starting to heat her cheeks and it made her a little light headed. She glanced quickly away and wondered how he'd managed to confuse her in the span of thirty seconds.

"Ah, well... apology accepted," she nearly whispered. He peeked over his shoulder and smiled, glad she'd finally spoken to him in a tone that expressed friendliness. She caught his gaze and held it a few seconds before looking away, blushing lightly and smiling slightly despite herself. His good mood was catching.

"Are... you and Sakura very close?" she asked softly. From what she'd observed they were not quite lovers, but something similar. She couldn't quite put her finger on the feeling it caused her.

"Ah, yeah we're quite close." He slowed his step, subtly telling her that she could continue asking her questions. He was in no hurry.

"I see." She slowed as well.

"She's my ex," he added. He wasn't sure why he needed to emphasise that, but there was something about the way she asked it that demanded it.

"Ah." She felt a little relieved for some reason. "Do... you still love her?"

He stopped in his tracks and turned around, his expression was hard to read. His eyes caught hers, searching her own. She felt a little exposed. Maybe her question was too personal.

"Do I still love her?" He wasn't sure he heard her right. Hinata broke away from his stare and watched a spot on the wall. Maybe it was too personal, crossing a line. She opened her mouth to apologise, but he bent down and put his luggage at his feet, crossed his arms across his chest and curled his index and thumb around his chin in thought.

"That's a pretty loaded question." He closed his eyes. She felt really nervous. She leaned in subconsciously, watching his mouth as though his answer would set the course to something she wanted to explore against her logic.

"Hmm. Well that depends. Sakura and I have a strange relationship. We dated out of convenience I think. I was deeply in love with her and she was chasing memories." He opened his eyes and narrowed them slightly, he was struggling on answering her question properly.

"She's the first girl I loved... my first partner, my first relationship." Hinata's lowered her gaze; her fingers had managed to knit themselves together. She frowned at her old habit resurfacing. She felt warmth on her shoulder and she quickly looked up, meeting his deep blue gaze. She could feel her cheeks heating as his hand tightened around the sensitive flesh.

"She was also my first heart-break when I finally realised that she would never be able to love me like she loves another." His eyes were almost sad. She felt her heart squeeze.

"So, yes. I still love her, but not as a lover. She's someone I can't stop loving because we understand each other, but this love has changed from a lover's affection to a brotherly affection." There was a pause between them. He released her shoulder and gave her a small smile, but there was something off about it. She noticed how his eyes reflected a loneliness she was all too familiar with and it clashed with his happy expression.

"Do..." she struggled with her next question, her gaze swallowing every inch of his face. "Do you think you'll find someone again?" Her questions were a little odd, very personal, but he didn't feel uncomfortable. He shifted his weight onto his other foot and looked up towards the ceiling, thinking on her question. He felt like she was testing him, checking his worth.

"Anything is possible, I'm certainly not giving up on the idea that there's someone out there that's willing to put up with me." He winked at her before leaning over and picking up his bags. He turned around before she could see his face turn an unsightly pink. He'd opened the door for her with his answer, now he just had to convince her to keep digging around so he could open up the door to her own heart.

"Where's that room?" he finally perked up. She tried to gather her wits together; his answer had shocked her a little bit. The dynamics of their conversation held so many what-if's and subtle invitations she wasn't sure of how to tackle the subjects. She was brought out of her train of thought when she bumped into Naruto. He had stopped walking waiting for her to answer, but she had been so deep in thought she hadn't heard him and had stopped paying attention.

The girl nearly fell over. Naruto dropped one bag and caught her before she completely lost her balance. She was taken a little aback by the feel of his hand on her arm. His warmth had sent a jolt through her skin; he was in her space again, invading her senses.

"Whoa, careful!" He pulled her close to him and she went into panic mode. His body heat was soaked up by her own, his proximity was too much. Her nose was assaulted by his male scent and on a whim she pushed him away. Her heart was wildly beating in her chest and she felt annoyed with herself. Her face reflected the anger she felt and he knit his brow in a slight frown before turning away.

"Sorry," he said before walking away.

"The first door to the right is my room." She tried to get her heart under control. "Yours is straight across from mine." He didn't turn to look at her. He was still thinking about her reaction to being pulled close to him.

"Ok." He hurried his step and struggled a moment to open the door to his room. He gave her a curt nod before closing the door. She was alone in the hallway and for some reason felt like she'd done something wrong.

He leaned his back against the door of his room and observed his prison cell for the next several days. It was modest and very _male._ He assumed that this is where her male siblings stayed when she was in need of company. It entirely lacked any feminine touch. He had a large king size bed set on a low frame that was maybe a foot off the floor. It was made with dark wood base and the side tables matched in design. It reminded him of a Japanese bed set.

_'This girl seems a little obsessed with the culture,'_ he remarked to himself. The walls were painted a light grey. There was one lamp next to the bed and a large patio door that led out to a balcony. He also noticed a small desk on the opposite side of the bed.

He sighed. Somehow everything had gone wrong. He was supposed to be charming and professional. Not show her he was perverted and carried a huge load of emotional baggage he was still trying to sort out. He dropped his bags on the floor unceremoniously and considered where he could set up his graph table and make the room a little less... stale.

He pushed away his current worries on his attempt at fixing his budding relationship with the heiress and tackled his current task to Narutofy his new living quarters.

* * *

Hinata was laying in her bed, her television on with no sound, too busy being lost in thought over her new roommate to really watch the show playing. He had answered all of her questions quite truthfully and she couldn't help but feel a little bit more curious about the man. He was from a period in her past she did not remember, nor did she want to remember.

She had decided a long time ago that her past should remain buried, but the more she learned about him, the more she wanted to dig inside her head and remember him. She felt it was a great injustice to forget him.

A soft knock brought her back. She heard him say something from the other side of the door, but it was mumbled. She threw her blankets aside and walked to his voice. She tried to prepare herself; his presence unsettled her. He knocked again, this time a little harder. She pulled the door wide enough to peek through the crack, as though she was trying to keep his sunlight out of her darkness.

"Yes?" she whispered. Her eyes were hard to read, her hair disheveled from tossing around in her bed. He blinked against the assault of the television light in the darkness; it hurt his eyes. It had been several hours since he'd last seen her and, nearing midnight, he had hoped he wasn't waking her. By the looks of things, she was also affected by sleeplessness.

She tried not to react to the fact he was wearing boxers and a black T-shirt with the city's whirlpool design on it. He looked exhausted.

"Is it ok if I go grab something to eat in the kitchen?" His voice was rough as he peered around her shield to meet her gaze. She tilted her head slightly, confused at the request.

"You don't need to ask my permission, Naruto. You can go get whatever you want." He shrugged.

"I don't know where the kitchen is. All I know is where the exit's located." He let out a small, nervous laugh. She berated herself quietly.

"Oh. I'm terribly sorry!" she exclaimed with a hint of embarrassment. She pulled the rest of the door open and stepped out, leading the way. He smiled at her.

"You want to eat with me? I make a pretty mean ramen," he offered her. She looked back over her shoulder and considered what he was asking.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about that particular dish." She heard him gasp in disbelief.

"What! Oh you poor soul." He clutched his chest in a dramatised fashion. She turned around curiously; his behaviour seemed a bit strange.

"Are you ok?"

"No!" he nearly shouted, still clutching his chest. She was suddenly alarmed, moving towards him. He noted the slight look of worry on her delicate face.

"What's the matter?" she reached out to him, her hands meeting the top of his. He leaned against the wall and let out a groan, milking out her worry for his own selfish needs.

"I can't believe you've never had ramen!" he whispered in exasperation, she suddenly caught on and pulled her hands off his. She put them on her hips and glared at him.

"You had me seriously worried," she cut in while he snickered quietly.

"Well, I'm sorry, I was truly shocked. Ramen is my favourite meal." She continued to glare at him and he cracked up laughing at her serious expression. He'd forgotten how easy it was to tease some people since Sakura was entirely immune to most of his easier pranks. He had found a new victim.

"Let me introduce you to the art of noodle and soup." He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her along towards the general direction of the kitchen. She was dumbfounded by the simple action and let herself be pulled along not only by his arm, but by his laughter, his smile and the twinkle in his eye.

Maybe ramen wasn't such a bad idea.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this! R&R if you want :P

Beta'd June 30, 2009 by Jolly Green.


	5. Ramen Is The Key To My Heart

**A small crack in perfection  
**_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:  
_I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN** – Check my profile / comment box for all the puns from chapter four :P I'd list them here but you're not interested in my Author's Notes! *rambles on* Enjoy the chapter!

Thank you _Jolly Green_ for the beta, I appreciate it (and your plot bunnies).

* * *

**Chapter 5  
**_Ramen is the key to my heart_

Sakura eyed her cell phone and grumbled. She hadn't heard from him since he'd left his house earlier that evening and tried to ignore the fact he was breaking a promise. Although she knew he was probably still setting up, obsessing over his graph table, redecorating the room and, god forbid, trying to convince his host to eat ramen.

He was predictable in his unpredictability.

She shifted in her bed. The blankets were uncomfortable, she duly noted, and laid on her back while staring at the ceiling. '_Maybe I should text him, see how things are going,'_ she thought as her eyes drifted to the red glare of her digital clock and she reconsidered. It was one in the morning – what if he was asleep?

She let out a small laugh and shook her head_. 'No way, he's probably leaned over the table, chewing on the end of his pencil with the eraser bits stuck to the palm of his hands, grumbling over something he can't quite get right.'_ She grinned, remembering him in detail: the frown in concentration, his bottom lip sucked in, she could even hear the pencil scratching on the paper. How many nights had she stayed awake in his bed, listening to it? Too many; she'd lost count years ago. He was always so focused on his projects, his visions.

He was relentless in his convictions to bring out the best in everything he designed, or whomever he met. She sighed and rolled over towards the clock, tucked her arm under the pillow and curled into herself. She bit her lower lip slightly as she reached out to the phone, a weird feeling knotted in her stomach.

'_What's wrong with me? I always call him whenever I feel like it,'_ she berated herself.

'_Yeah, but he's not usually sleeping at your boss's house!'_ inner-Sakura retorted.

'_True..._'_'_ She stared at the phone. Her fingers glided across the smooth button pad as she debated a little further, making an invisible list of worst possible scenarios. She rolled her eyes and shoved the imaginary list off the imaginary table and told her worries to stuff it as she texted him.

* * *

Naruto stood behind Hinata as he pushed her lightly behind the shoulders into the mouth of the waiting kitchen, she protested lightly, but he wouldn't hear anything of it and spouted out in a strange robotic voice _'Resistance is futile_.' He expected the usual giggle he got from Sakura, but she glanced over her shoulder and looked confused, if anything.

'_Guess she's not a fan of Star Trek.'_ He pouted a little and apologised to Picard by sighing out-loud to the ceiling and shaking his head. She frowned slightly at his obvious disappointment, but it was soon forgotten once he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the center of the kitchen, pointing at the seat.

His eyes twinkled in mischief as he made his way around her once she was secured at the kitchen island. She watched him carefully as he opened all her cupboards and set upon his task to seek out various utensils and her skillet. Whatever _that_ was. He suddenly stood up from his four-legged position on the ground and stalked over to the fridge, grumbling. He opened the cooling container and pressed his lips together.

"For Pete's sake, you have nothing here to make Ramen with," he pointedly said to her, receiving a raised eyebrow in response.

"I _did_ say I was not familiar with the dish, so why would I have the necessary equipment to cook it with?" she replied. Naruto only stood there, blinked once and mentally conceded a point to Hinata on the Kiba board of moments he'd been rendered speechless.

"Point taken. Put a sweater on, we're going on a little trip." He marched out of the kitchen towards his room, she blinked.

"W-w-what?" she stuttered out. He grinned before turning to her in the darkness of the hall.

"We're going shopping."

"At one in the morning?" she continued to argue. He nodded and opened his door. She followed behind him and continued to mumble out excuses as to why it was too late to wander out into the city and shop for ramen, of all things. He ignored her rambling as he pulled open the closet door and yanked out a raggedy orange cotton sweatshirt.

She'd gone silent while he was busy seeking out clothes. He peered over his shoulder and puzzled over her lack of comments. She was in shock. The bedroom was completely in disarray; months of careful planning and decorating had been thrown out the window in the space of couple of hours by this... _thing_ claiming to be a man.

"Wha…" she started, he looked around and didn't see what the problem was. He had managed to get that horrendous stiffness out of the room and made it a little bit more comfortable. He even changed the furniture around a bit so he could fit his portable draft table near the patio doors; he liked windows to contemplate things while designing. His bed was terribly uncomfortable. He'd gotten used to the mattress his god-father had given him before he'd been killed by a freak accident caused by an old student of his.

He couldn't understand her reaction at all.

"I made a few changes. I can tell you love it." He grinned while he pulled on his jeans. She wanted to glare at him, but she was a bit entranced by the way he was leaned over. The jeans slipped over his rump and she was at a loss for words; the boxers did not hide the well defined muscles there as they flexed in response to his actions. He turned around and raised a brow, wondering what she was still doing in her pj's.

"Go get dressed! Time's a wasting!" He quickly walked to her, grabbed one of her arms and pulled her out the door. She let herself get dragged about. This was highly unusual for her to be so limp, so easily manipulated, but his charisma was making it hard for her to put two thoughts together coherently. The constant invasion of her personal space was infuriating to say the least, but the second he focused those blue eyes on her, all reason flew out the window.

She had to get control back! This Hinata in the driver seat was unfit and she struggled to summon her persona, but she was distracted by the warmth of his fingers imbedding itself on her flesh and the musical timbre of his voice as he drabbled on about food, kitchen appliances and the shopping he was about to do.

"Ok, you've got ten minutes to get dressed and prettied up to sex my car." He winked at her before he shoved her inside her bedroom ungracefully and shut the door behind her. She was beet red.

'_Sex his car?_' she mentally repeated as she stared ahead of herself in complete disbelief.

She heard a strange chime of music from the other side of the door. It was followed shortly after by the distinct sound of flesh slapping against flesh and a soft thump as he leaned against the hard wood threshold. She walked to her closet and felt the disbelief turn into slight anger.

Scratch that, she was furious. Never in her life had she been so… so… _manhandled_.

* * *

Naruto stared at his phone; he'd forgotten all about Sakura and slapped his forehead. He heard a distinct muffled growl from Hinata's room and he pondered if he'd gone a little too far with her. '_But she had just been standing there!_' he defended to himself. He was getting tired of waiting for her to decide what to do next.

He read the text his ex-lover sent him and raised a brow, wondering why she was texting him instead of her usual phone call to drag him out of a good night sleep.

He dialled her number, leaned against door to Hinata's room and waited for the familiar sound of the ring.

"Why are you sending me texts?" he piped up before she had the chance to say hello.

"I thought your ringer might be on and it might disturb your host," she hissed, a bit embarrassed at her excuse.

"What?" She could hear the amused tone in his question, but she ignored it.

"How are things going there? Are you all settled in?" she pried.

"It's going well, although Hinata's a bit upset with how I changed the room I'm staying in." Sakura's laugh escaped the curve of his ear as he tilted his head towards the door, listening for Hinata inside the room.

"What are you doing to the poor woman? Don't get me fired!" she jokingly warned. He grinned as he shifted his weight.

"No worries. I'm taking her out right now."

"What? Why?" Sakura puzzled, "It's too late for romance, Naruto."

"Oh for…" he started. Why did everyone think he was out to get laid? "I'm introducing Hinata to the Art of Ramen. She just doesn't have anything whatsoever to cook with." He grumbled, which extracted another deep belly laugh from Sakura; he even heard a slight snort.

"I knew it! You're so predictable." She snorted again. He was a bit miffed that she figured out his plans, but chose to focus on the awkward pig sound she made.

"Did you just snort?" he laughed as she denied it.

"A woman does not snort, it's undignified," she huffed. He laughed even harder.

"You're the last person to be deemed 'dignified', Sakura." He tried to hold his laugh in check, but her continued denial only made it worst. The door behind him opened suddenly without warning. He lost his footing and followed the momentum. Sakura heard some strangled sounds and a crash. She sat up in bed and pressed the phone against her ear, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Are you ok?" she asked. A grunt was her answer.

Hinata side-stepped out of the way and watched the blond blur fall at her feet. She blinked as he rolled over and sighed. This could have gone a lot smoother.

"Hinata's ready to go, I'll call you when I get back."

"Ok, have fun!" he heard Sakura exclaim before he flipped the phone shut. She glared at him and he smiled sheepishly. He knew he'd crossed the line with her.

* * *

Naruto shook off a chill as he entered his car. He leaned over and popped the lock on the passenger side to let Hinata in; she pulled the door open and settled in. She was still silent and he felt a little bit awkward.

"I'm sorry," he offered. She glanced at him while putting the buckle in its holder. She held a contemplative look, but said nothing. She folded her hands on her lap and stared ahead, not yet ready to forgive him. He sighed and put the key in the ignition, twisted the engine to life and pressed the gas, letting it purr a moment longer.

He put on his classics mixed CD, flicked through until _'Yesterday'_ filled the cab, put the volume on low and pulled out of the parking spot. Hinata watched the stars twinkle in the darkness. The cold air made the night seem crisper and clearer than usual. She sunk into the leather seat and, without realising it, let herself be carried by the notes of the song. She could hear her mother's voice humming along the music.

'_She used to sing this._' She could see it clearly in her memories; her mother humming while she brushed her daughter's hair. She could see her clearly in the mirror's reflection, smiling at Hinata while she counted the strokes. She closed her eyes, fighting a tear that threaten to come out.

Naruto watched her in the mirror. She closed her eyes and calmness took over her as she sunk into the seat. The pale yellow flashing of the street lights caressed her smooth surface of her face, the flickering of emotion was barely there but he could see it. He wanted to look away; this was something private. She was remembering something.

They rode in silence as the song played, but the moment of peace was broken when _'Love Shack'_ broke her out of the trance. She stared at the player a little confused and Naruto belted along with the lyrics, extracting a smile from the heiress. She let out a giggle when he let out a high pitch _"Woo!"_ with the girls on the track. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel and his head bopped left to right to the beat. She got easily swept away in his good mood despite her struggle to summon the heiress.

"Where are we headed?" she finally asked. He glanced at her, his lips still moved to the lyrics as he thought on her question.

"We're going to my favourite place." He evaded her question, but answered it at the same time. She frowned and looked out the window as the song ended and flicked to _'Hotel California'_. His off key signing did not end with the B-52's and she couldn't decide whether she should laugh or cringe.

He took an exit off the highway and slowed down; she listened to the lyrics and wondered why it was only old songs on the CD. He seemed a little bit too hyper to listen to this kind of music.

"Why is it only classics?" she asked. He turned his head towards her a second while his eyes remained on the road, he turned a corner onto a smaller road and pressed on the gas once more.

"My god-father used to listen to these all the time," he began to explain. She made an 'O' with her mouth. "He was a big fan of the music - always said that this was the best thing that inspired him to be what he was." He left out the exotic writer part. That was Naruto's secret shame from his upbringing.

"I listen to it now in remembrance of the old pervert," he absentmindedly added as he checked his mirror before turning to the right, into another alleyway.

"Pervert?" she asked, puzzled. Naruto blinked and laughed. _'So much for being discreet about my past shame.'_

"Yeah, he was a smut writer, or 'Erotica' as he put it. Frankly there's not a big difference in what he wrote and porn. Had no shame to be honest. His wife had a love hate relationship with his writings." He smiled sheepishly. Hinata raised a brow in curiosity.

"Who is he?" She saw his face falter a moment and he let out a small sigh that was barely audible.

"His name was Jiraiya. He passed away several years ago." The sadness in his voice was hard to miss. She looked at her hands, suddenly feeling ashamed that she'd asked such a personal question, but the name shook a memory loose in her head.

'_Are you Naruto's little girlfriend?' A man with long white hair smiled at her, his eyes mischievously twinkled as he cornered her and Naruto after their failed martial arts competition. Naruto fisted his hands before crossing them and his boyish voice sputtered out incomprehensible words as she turned bright red. _

'_You perverted old man! She's not my g-g-girlfriend!'_

She smiled and looked up towards the boy turned man next to her. "I think I remember him," she whispered. Naruto glanced her way and gave her a barely there smile. "He seemed quite the character from what I can recall." She added, he didn't miss the tone of amusement lacing her words.

"Yeah?" she nodded as he looked to the road again. "He was something alright. I miss him."

"How did he pass away?" she asked, her mind tried to recall all the details of the important person Naruto was speaking about. She remembered he had two red tattoos on his face, lined from the eyes to the jaw bone. She found that detail odd.

"He was killed by one of his old students." He avoided looking at her, allowing them both time to recover from the awkward conversation. He could see the Japanese store in the distance, the light was still on as he expected. The owner wasn't one to close at all since his daughter was the night shift employee.

"It was a big misunderstanding, at the time, on his death. Nagato felt abandoned and such; big mess." He surmised. He didn't really want to get into the details. The man had killed himself several days after while waiting for trial and it had all been swept under the rug by the lawyers. Tsunade had been devastated.

He focused on parking the car, trying to push away the memory. He pulled out his keys from the ignition and paused a moment. Hinata was still looking at him and he smiled before reaching for the door handle, pushing it open. She mimicked his actions and stepped out of the car.

"Ichiraku's Ramen?" she read the words in Japanese on the store's tacky illuminated sign. Naruto puffed up his chest in pride.

"The best damned ramen ever," he called out. She rolled her eyes.

* * *

Kiba narrowed his eyes at the monitor as the light flickered and the hard drive kicked into overdrive. It had turned on out of the blue and he was a bit perturbed. He didn't normally spend nights in the office this time of the week or in Naruto's for that matter, but he liked the windows. He watched as a program opened all the design files and began to flicker through the newer designs Sai had implemented for the Hyuuga contract and his eyes widen as understanding descended on him.

"Fuck!" he ran from the office and headed out to the server room, running faster than imaginable. The desktop showed someone downloading the latest plans. Someone was hacking into the business and stealing Naruto's work.

He curbed the corner at the end of the hall, his feet were barely touching the ground as he zoned in on the target. He flung the door open and ran to the main server line.

"Naruto's going to fucking kill me." He muttered as he broke the glass on the Fire Axe casing with his elbow and grabbed the tool with both hands. He grabbed the gloves and threw them on as an afterthought and prayed he wasn't too late as the axe descended on the main server line and severed it. The room went dead and he sighed, wondering how much data had been stolen.

He threw the axe away from him and looked at the damage before he reached for his cell phone and dialled a number from memory while wondering who would want anything of Naruto's.

"Yeah?" the voice at the other end sounded sleepy, but Kiba knew better; this man always sounded sleepy.

"Shikamaru, I need your help with something." There was a pause at the end of the line.

"Kiba?"

"Yeah, sorry for calling so late. Someone just hacked our network and I know you're the man who can figure this shit out. You've got brains bigger than Sasuke's ego." The other man laughed at the comparison.

"Well, with flattery like that, how can I say no?"

Kiba grinned. "Before this crap happened, Naruto said he was fine with you looking at things finally as long as you're just a friend looking into things." He paused a moment, trying to figure out how to word it so he could convince his friend to come post haste.

"Now that we've been hacked, I'm sure he'd be dragging you over here personally if he was here. I'll just have to figure out how to pay you without arousing suspicion from our contracted IT guys."

"Well, I don't mind. It's on the house if this leads to me snatching Rasengan Landscape as a client." Shikamaru smirked. "Let me grab my laptop and I'll head over there. Did you disconnect the server?" he asked. There was a pause and an uncomfortable chuckle.

"Does taking an axe to the main server line count?"

Shikamaru covered his eyes with his hand and groaned. "For fuck's sake, Kiba. You're a moron."

Kiba was distracted momentarily by the sparks of electricity vomited by the severed server line as it twitched, screeching in protest at its premature death. Kiba had to agree with his friend.

* * *

Ayame turned towards the sound of the doors sliding open; she began her usual greeting when she saw a familiar mop of yellow hair enter and raise a hand to wave at her. She grinned and motioned the same greeting to her most infamous customer.

"Why, isn't this a rare occasion?" she squawked out, Naruto snorted at her question.

"Don't be silly, I'm in here practically every day." He tugged on Hinata's sleeve as she stood behind him, a bit taken aback at the simplicity of the store. She followed the tug as her blond friend chirped and babbled to the shop keeper.

"What brings you in here at this late hour?" Ayame's twinkled with the obvious answer, but she liked playing this game.

"Oh, well you know. I want a hamburger and some fries." He grinned as she laughed. "Actually, I'm here to introduce this poor virgin to ramen." He pointed at the girl behind him. Ayame smiled at Hinata and glanced at Naruto, her lips never faltering.

"Ramen virgin?" she puzzled. "_Is_ there such a thing considering she's in your company?" she smirked. Naruto shook his head dramatically and pointed at Hinata with a grandeur motion that would have shamed Shakespeare.

"Yes, this poor soul has never tasted the wonders of Miso Ramen, so I'm going to make some for her." The shop keeper cringed and Naruto took offense to the reaction.

"You're going to make some?" she said with disbelief, "Naruto, you can't make yourself a bowl of cereal, let alone something as complicated as ramen," she teased. He huffed and ignored her as he disappeared down an aisle and took one of the store baskets with him. Hinata watched the top of his head as he walked down the aisle, muttering to himself.

"Is he really going to cook you ramen?" Hinata was brought out of her reverie by the question. Ayame was watching her carefully, her expression amused.

"I guess so. He was quite adamant on introducing me to the dish." She simply stated. Ayame was a bit surprised by the girl's proper tone; it made her want to bow to her like a servant.

"He's not that good of a cook," she warned the indigo haired girl, but she was met with a blank eyed stare which unsettled her.

"Where's the prepared broth soup?" he barked at the shop keeper. She rolled her eyes and walked around the desk she was seated behind.

"Sorry miss, I'll be right back." She gave a small bow before skipping towards her favourite customer.

"Dumb ass, it's the same spot it's always in," the girl's voice floated down the aisle and Hinata raised a brow at the familiarity between the two.

"I'm not a dumb ass!" he retorted before the top of his head moved further away down the aisle. Hinata had trouble keeping her lips from smiling as they argued back and forth.

"Take this, it's better than that kind," she suggested, but he refused by adding "I like the chicken base from this company!" Hinata heard the shop keeper sigh before the quiet hush of the door slipping open reached her ears. Hinata turned towards the entrance and eyed the man who walked in.

He glanced at her, nodded in acknowledgment and quietly made his way past her. She was struck by the sense of nobility he etched in his step; his dark hair was unusual and his pale skin screamed of high stature. He silently made his way down the opposite end from where the shop keeper and Naruto were arguing, plucked up a couple bags of onigri, walked back towards Hinata, and dug out money from his pocket.

He dropped the correct change on the counter and walked back out before Naruto's voice filtered through his mind. The man paused a moment at the entrance and glanced over his shoulder, his onyx eyes narrowed in thought, before he continued on his route. The heiress frowned as the doors closed again.

"You have everything?" Ayame asked him as she rounded the corner. She spied Hinata looking confused and noticed money on the counter.

"Oh. I missed my midnight visitor." She grinned as she plucked the money from the counter and rang up the four bags of onigri he usually bought every couple of days.

"He's a regular here?" she asked. Naruto knitted his brow in confusion, wondering what they could possibly be talking about.

"Yes, he always buys the same thing." She glanced over to Naruto and sighed. "I feel sorry for you," she said with sympathy. Hinata looked at her guest and wondered why he needed so much for a simple bowl of soup.

"You're just jealous I'm cooking for Hinata," he mumbled, putting all the items on the counter. Ayame laughed and shook her head.

"My dear, if you're not dead after eating Naruto's Ramen, come back for my father's. He cooks it during the day and it's to die for." She winked at the girl and ignored the blond's objections.

"Your father taught me how to make this! Don't belittle my skill!" he whined.

Hinata was growing seriously worried as Naruto glared at the laughing Ayame.

* * *

Shikamaru arrived nearly thirty minutes after the attempted hacking; carrying a laptop bag and what Kiba estimated was several hundred feet of cable over his shoulder. He had a lot of work on his hands considering his idiot friend had hacked the server line clean through to stop the download. He stared at the wires and muttered at how troublesome this was going to be.

"Did you really have to use an axe?" he asked rhetorically as he dropped his burdens and moved over to inspect the damage closer.

"I kinda reacted without thinking." He laughed nervously as his old friend glared back at him.

Upon closer examination, he found that the broken sections only connected to other devices in the room; not into the wall as he'd feared. With a relieved sigh, Shikamaru quickly replaced the broken wires with the equipment he'd brought and took the servers offline before connecting the wires back into it to prevent any more downloads. He connected his laptop to the console port and began to run diagnostics. The grimace on his face told Kiba one important fact: this could take a long time.

"Did you call Naruto yet?" he asked as he glanced over at his company. Kiba shrugged, aware that he should've, but wasn't in the mood to deal with Naruto's irate screaming about destroying the servers. Especially _right_ after he'd gotten his boss to cave on the issue and give him full reign on the company.

"Once you figure out what's going on, I will." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and typed furiously, trying to access the logs of the server.

* * *

Naruto grabbed the bags out of the car and followed behind Hinata while she unlocked the door to her home. He struggled momentarily with the heap of bags, but refused to lose the battle. She was hard pressed not to laugh as she watched him tip left to right climbing the stairs as he grumbled.

"Why do you need stairs? You should get rid of them and get an elevator."

"I'm rather fond of the path," she replied while opening the door for him. "Plus I'm not sure why you need this much. It's just soup," she stated. Naruto peeked around the bags and scowled at her.

"This is not 'just soup', and there's nothing simple about it. You're lucky I'm not making the base or noodles from scratch. We'd be at this for hours." She didn't believe him. They entered her home and made their way to the kitchen once more.

"Put your hand on mine and guide me, I can't see anything with all these packages," he said without concern. He didn't realise that she stared at him as though he requested something unreasonable. He peered around again since she didn't move and raised a brow.

"Ok, never mind," he said when she didn't reply. He started to move ahead, praying that he didn't break anything, but was stopped mid-thought when he felt her hand brush his. There was no spark this time; the one that seemed to harass them when they touched. He mentally took note that she didn't have any carpets so, of course, it wouldn't affect them here.

She turned away from him before he had the chance to peek around the packages again. A light blush dusted her cheeks as she guided him to their destination. He hid a smile as he noticed the small shake in her hand against his.

"This way," she tried to sound confident but it came out as a whisper. She berated herself again on her weird reactions to the man and tried to gain control of the heat on her cheeks to no avail.

They reached the kitchen and she had yet to control her heart beat. Naruto walked around her, unconcerned with her secret battle between the Heiress and this emerging Hinata. She watched him place the bags in a strange order on the counter and he motioned for her to come close.

"First, let's get all the ingredients ready." He pulled out two large knives and the chopping block. "You take care of chopping the shitake mushrooms and the green onion; mince the garlic cloves and do some damage with the dried chilli peppers." He handed her each item as she grabbed an apron. He absent-mindedly watched her as she pulled her lose hair into a top bun and set herself to work. She caught him staring as she reached for the mushrooms and she blushed lightly when he grinned.

"I'll get the soup and base ready," he finally said as he pulled out a pot and unwrapped the new skillet. He poured a large amount of water in the pot and added the chicken broth. She watched as he chopped fresh ginger, bok choy, Chinese cabbage and spring onion tops expertly. So far she was impressed.

"How often do you make ramen?" She set aside the first set of ingredients she was charged with and moved on to the next as he dumped the heap he'd prepared into the stock.

"Uh. Not often. I'd rather buy it from Ichiraku when he makes it." He measured the salt and added it to the boiling water.

"And why is that?"

"I'm lazy. I hate waiting for ramen," he said simply. She had to press down the urge to laugh; he seemed far from lazy considering the line of work he was in. The smell of the soup was beginning to fill the kitchen and she had to admit it made her mouth water a little.

He grabbed the cooking and sesame oils and turned on the skillet. Poured in a small amount of each and grabbed the minced garlic she'd just finished. As the garlic fried slowly, he added the miso paste and soya sauce. He hummed an unknown tune as he threw in a bit of vegetable oil and eyed her progress on the chilli peppers. She took that as a hint that they would be needed next.

He grabbed what she had finished and poured it in, flicking the items quickly and taking it off the heat. She watched him dump the noodles in the now boiling water and taste the soup in a separate pot. Once the egg timer rang, he yanked the hot noodles off the stove and strained them from the water.

"Slice the pork very thinly and fry them," he ordered as she idly stood there. She nodded and thinned the pork, threw them in a fresh hot pan and let them fry for a few seconds before removing the skillet from the flames. He grinned as he poured the base into two large bowls and then slowly added the soup base before mixing the two. He grabbed the noodles and added the toppings.

"Do you want Tofu or bean sprouts?" he asked her. She pointed at the white heap and he nodded, choosing the sprouts for himself. The watake went in last and he grinned at her, winking before reaching inside the bag from the store.

"And last but not least," he quickly pulled out two sets of disposable wooden chop sticks and motioned at Hinata to sit down at the Island. She complied and grabbed one of the chop sticks offered by him.

"Let's eat!" he exclaimed. His stomach growled in response, but he ignored it and took the first bite.

To Hinata's amazement, it was delicious. Naruto grinned when he heard her quiet, yet satisfied, moan as she slurped the noodles.

It was four in the morning before he returned to his room. The night was saying good bye to the sky as he contemplated what to do. He wasn't sleepy yet and he eyed his graph table.

'_I could start a draft,_" he thought but he didn't really want to. His mind wandered across the hall to his host, sleeping in her bed. She had managed to not get upset with his strange behaviour most of the night and tagged along as he made unreasonable demands and forced her to eat a dish she'd never eaten before.

'_She's a trooper._' He grinned. He sat down at the edge of the bed and grabbed the phone out of his jean pocket before stripping them off. He sent Sakura a text, knowing full well she'd be asleep by now, but he'd promised to let her know how things had gone.

'Converted robot to Naruto Ramen Church, bible scripture to be added in celebration.' He hit send and dropped the phone next to him. He laid down and let his thoughts wander over the delicate features of this intriguing woman. He listened for any movement across the hallway, but it was dead silent.

Was he falling for her? He wasn't sure. She was still so tightly wound around her memory loss that she was exuding two personas and he couldn't quite decide if he was falling for the challenge or if he was falling for her. Before he could come up with an answer to satisfy him, his phone rang. He frowned, wondering who could possibly be calling him this early in the morning.

Kiba's number flashed and he flipped the phone open, a little concerned as to why he would call.

"Yeah?"

"Naruto, we got a major problem."

* * *

Leave a review if you want! Hope this wasn't boring XD –

**References:  
**The Beatles - Yesterday  
The B-52's - Love Shack  
The Eagles - Hotel California

The delicious miso ramen recipe I used (and use at home) is located here: http : / / www. geocities. com / Tokyo / Temple / 9151 / ramen . html – remove the spaces to get to the link :P FF hates urls.


	6. Yielding to the Sun

**A small crack in perfection  
**_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:  
_I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN** – Ah yeah, I know I should focus on chapter fifteen of Twice Shy but... plot bunnies are strong in this one. Look for chapter 15 by the end of this week. Sorry!

Thank you _Jolly Green_ for the beta, I appreciate it.

_Large chunks of italic texts = memories._ Dont get confused now~  
_'italics'_ thoughts

* * *

**Chapter 6  
**_Yielding to the sun_

He hadn't managed to get past the point of "I axed the server line"; his hearing had malfunctioned and he was positive the room had turned into a dull, fiery red. Maybe that was just the hue of his rage painting the walls. Either way, it didn't bode well for Kiba.

"What the fuck, Kiba! I leave you alone for not even twelve hours and you destroyed the servers?" he tried to whisper, but it sounded like a harsh, squeakier version of his screaming. Kiba pulled the phone away from his ear and glared at Shikamaru, who was quietly pissing himself laughing in the corner of the newly reconnected server room. He mouthed at the technician to cut it out, but the lazy computer geek only ignored him as he continued to hit keys while snickering.

"It's all fixed up!" he tried to interject between Naruto's odd sputtering and gargles, but there was no way he'd get the time to cut through the rage emanating through. He could almost see the blond's face twisted up in rage, tinted red and his fingers pulling out his hair. A sight he was exposed to at least once every couple of days.

"Like I give a shit! You broke my babies!" his boss continued to rant. Kiba rolled his eyes and put the phone down on a desk while Naruto continued his tirade.

"He'll be at this for a little bit," he explained when Shikamaru glanced his way. "You want something from the kitchen?" Kiba asked before heading towards the exit. The lazy man shook his head and watched the other man disappear through the doorway. He raised a brow as the sharp bark of Naruto continued to yell through the abandoned phone, making it hard to repress the bubble of laughter that was building up.

It was close to ten minutes before Kiba returned and Naruto was _still_ whisper-screaming into the receiver. Kiba checked his watch and picked up the phone, counted to three on his fingers, and as though on cue, Naruto stopped yelling.

"Ok, you got it all out of your system?" Kiba casually asked, taking a bite out of his ham sandwich and winking to Shikamaru.

"I hate you so much right now," Naruto said through gritted teeth.

"Glad we agree on something," he added sweetly. Naruto collapsed on his bed, exhausted.

"What's the damage?" the blond asked while rolling over to his side, towards the door of his bedroom. He could see Hinata's room across the way, bathed in the darkness of the hallway. There was a light illuminating the crack by the floor and he wondered if he'd woken her up. _'Fucking retarded Kiba… why do I keep leaving him in charge?'_

"Well, Shikamaru discovered that someone's been downloading pretty much all of your finished drafts from Sai," he heard his partner explain.

"Shikamaru? Is that who you dragged in there to fix your stupidity?" he grumbled.

"Ha ha, very funny." Naruto smirked at the response. Kiba tried to ignore the obvious smirk from his friend and went back to the topic at hand without much more delay, "Anyways, seems like we have a regular hacker."

"What do you mean by that?" he managed to say while in mid-yawn. He looked at the digital clock and saw the minute change to four a.m. He really needed some sleep. He heard a shuffle and an offended yelp from Kiba.

"Means someone's been stealing your work," Shikamaru's voice chimed at the end of the line.

"Really? Who the hell would want to steal landscaping designs?" the blond asked, half-laughing at the ludicrous idea.

"I don't know, Naruto. That's not all though," the technician replied. He caught Kiba's attention, motioning to listen closely while keeping Naruto in suspense. "I consoled into your server and did a trace on the last IP address that connected to it from outside your firewall." Kiba raised a brow as the technical jargon started to fall out of his friend's mouth. Although he could make some of it out, he knew Naruto wouldn't.

"Turns out they bounced the connection through about a half-dozen cloaked proxies before attempting to connect to your server, even though they already had a dedicated backdoor set up." He paused a moment before picking up where he left off, the snort from Kiba had distracted him. He gave him a quizzical look when the dog owner shook his head.

"So I went into the archives and used my personal algorithm to track every occurrence of this guy snatching your data so I could do follow up searches." Shikamaru turned back to his laptop and hit a pair of keys to bring up the list he'd built from his searches.

"Turns out they've been using the same six proxies every time. I was able to use that to track down where the hack originated from and tried to dig deeper, but as soon as I got Telnet-ed into their system, their firewall smashed the connection like a hurricane," he finished, quite proud of his handy work.

Naruto had taken the phone away from his ear after the word "I" and was holding it in front of him in confusion. It seemed that Shikamaru was under the impression that Naruto was a genius in _technology_ and not _landscaping_. Hearing the explanation finish, he brought the phone back to its rightful place and spoke with tired annoyance.

"So... Repeat that in English this time." He pressed his thumb and index to the bridge of his nose, trying to push away a headache that was threatening to take over. "Oh, can you make sure a three-year old can put that long winded alien jargon together and understand it, please?" he added, making it clear to Shikamaru that he was dumb as a post in computers. Naruto heard the technician sigh as Kiba chuckled in the background.

"Basically I checked your old records to find how long this guy has been stealing your work and managed to almost track him down by following his electronic footprints." He surmised again, dumbing it down to a respectable level without resorting to a drawn graph. "The only reason I didn't find out more than that was because of their own security measures." He prayed that was daft enough.

"See? Now, was that so hard?" Naruto asked pleasantly. He could have sworn he heard a muttered _'troublesome idiot'_ on the other end of the line. Despite his amusement, the blond honed in on the major point. "So did you figure out who exactly has been stealing my Death Star plans?" he asked with a smirk.

"They're originating from the parent company of the one you hired to monitor your network."

Naruto blinked and cursed loudly when the small and barely audible laugh of Kiba resonated again in the background.

"I told you to reject that shifty deal!" the dog owner gloated, yelling with a sense of self-satisfaction that was not missed by his boss.

_Fuck_ he hated it when Kiba was right.

* * *

_The wail of the ambulance woke her from her sluggish sleep, sounds of people arguing made her frown, and she couldn't breathe. The mask pressed hard against her mouth and she tried to reach for it, but her arms wouldn't move. _Couldn't _move. She felt sticky, her head hurt and she wanted the wailing to stop. _

'Where am I?'_ she thought, but a bump in the road made her cry out instead. The paramedic glanced down her way and tried to give her a smile, but it was clouded; filled with worry she couldn't quite figure out. She heard he sister crying, calling for their mother. She tried to reach for her but her body wouldn't move. Darkness fell again and she let herself be swallowed by it. _

_The light came once more and stirred her from the depths of darkness. She could hear the voice of her father speaking to someone. She tried to open her eyes, but nothing was obeying her. She wanted to call out to them, let them know she was awake, but there was a tube in her mouth. She wanted to gag, she was thirsty and the beep of some machine was driving her mad. _

"_Your wife was killed almost instantly. If it wasn't for Hinata's quick thinking, your youngest wouldn't have come out of there alive..." the female voice drifted inside the room. Her father was barely out of sight, his brow furrowed in anger. _

'Mother is dead?'_ The reality of situation was slowly dawning on her. She had distracted her mother in the van; they had collided with a truck. Hinata tried to squeeze her eyes together to let out a tear forming, but they were already shut. How could she see so clearly if her eyes were still closed? She didn't really have time to think on the possibility when she heard a sound in the room that caught her attention. _

_Her head tilted towards the sound only to find that the room she occupied empty. She noticed that it was still raining outside as the constant patter of water hitting the window finally filtered through her semi-consciousness. Her attention focused on the vacant seat next to the bed as she heard the sound once more. It was an almost ghostly whisper; one that was calling her name. _

_Her mother's bloodied face slowly appeared before her; her body faded in slowly and it was reaching for her. Hinata tried to shoo away the ghostly figure, but it stood there grinning unknowingly as a death ate away at its flesh, exposing the teeth from her missing lips. Was this truly her mother or was it an evil spirit trying to drag her into the darkness?_

_Her heart monitor beeped quickly, attracting the doctor's attention. The blond woman entered the room and frowned when she noticed Hinata's opened eyes focused near the window. Her eyes were void of recognition when her father entered the room behind her. _

'Her eyes shouldn't be open; she's in a deep coma.'_ Tsunade thought to herself. There was something going on with the girl's brain if she was giving any signs of life. She pulled at the paper print out of the girl's brain waves and noticed a sharp increase of activity in the last few minutes. She ignored the man behind her as she made her way around the bed. She reached for the girl's eye lids and pulled them back, flashing a light to see if there was any reaction. There was none, which troubled the doctor. _

_Hinata tried to speak, but the tubes were keeping her from screaming as the ghost closed in on her. The bloody fingers reached out, grazed her skin and her small terrified mind couldn't handle the cold feeling it left behind as it reached for her heart. She tried to push it off, tried to call for help, but she was just laying there, letting her soul be sucked away by those cold, uncaring hands. _

_This was not her mother. _

'**Come now, child...'**_ it whispered, grinning as the stench of rot invaded her sense of smell; demanding retribution for the unwelcomed death she had caused. Hinata could feel the coldness behind the vacant eye sockets, the grinding sound of exposed bones against the floor. It made a sickening sound, almost like a hushed tone of a gargling wet breath as though it was drowning in blood, when the bony rotting fingers reached for her head. _

'You should never give up, Hinata! It's important to always promise yourself you'll do your best. Don't let anything get in your way!'_ a memory fluttered in the way; _blond_ hair and sparkling blue eyes distracting the ghost. Hinata felt her resolve return and focused on the brightness of Naruto's words, but it was too late. The ghost had touched her mind and she felt something lock before darkness swallowed her again. _

'Don't give in, Hinata!'_ The smile from the boy flashed brightly, illuminating the room. The ghost disappeared and Hinata felt the whisper of Naruto's voice leave her. _

"_What's going on?" her father shouted as the monitor began to falter. Her eyes rolled in the back of head and Tsunade pressed the red emergency button. The voice of a nurse calmly greeted the doctor as Hinata's heart flat lined._

"_Code blue!" she shouted. Everything around Hinata turned into a blur. _

_Darkness lifted once more, but this time all she felt was a void. She blinked at the light in her eyes; her voice was unsteady so she only nodded when the doctor asked her a few questions. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know who the man was in the room. The small child next to him looked to her with warmth and reached for her, calling her Hinata. _

"_You're recovered Hinata," the _blond_ woman said pleasantly. The smile did not match the concern in her eyes, but the young woman in the bed ignored it, not quite sure how she was supposed to react to it. Tsunade walked out of the room, motioning at the man to follow her. The younger girl stayed with the bedridden one. They stared at each other; one frightened to wake up to this chaos, the other oblivious to her sister's distress. _

"_She's lost her memories," she heard the female voice say quietly. _

"_How? She was fine before!" the man shouted before getting hushed. Hinata smiled at the younger girl who was attempting to climb into her bed, babbling on about blankets, a new room and something about Christmas. _

"_It must have happened when she was flat-lined, lack of oxygen to the brain," she explained. Hiashi turned towards his daughters. Watched them interact. Hinata was like another person, she was awkward to say the least. _

"_Is this permanent?" he asked, his mind already planning on how to deal with his daughter's most unfortunate situation. Despite its negative implications, he could easily turn it to his advantage and turn his daughter into something other than what she was. _

"_I have no idea," was all Tsunade could say as she watched the man disappear into his daughter's room. _

Hinata woke with a start. Her eyes focused on the T.V. in front of her bed, blinking away the revenants of her dreams. More trickles of memory she assumed as she blinked away the unwanted tears threatening to form at the edge of her sleepy eyes. She curled into herself a moment, her thoughts still wandering down this new memory corridor she had unearthed and she finally let herself cry when the television emitted the high-pitched sound indicating broadcasting was finished for that night.

The TV had flatlined and the sound rushed back unwanted, frightening memories like a flood. She sat up in her bed and looked around her room, listening for the scratch of bone against floor, her heartbeat was deafening and she nervously bit her lip.

'_Get a grip, you're in control of this situation. Not the other way around. Don't let yourself be controlled by silly nightmares and childish emotions,'_ she tried to convince herself, but she was unusually afraid of the dark.

'_How shameful...'_ she repeated over and over as she brought the blankets closer to her. She tried to steady her heart beat, but the imminent threat of the fleshed ghost was making her irrational.

She _had _to get out of there.

* * *

Naruto was struck once more by the insomnia demon. He sighed and wondered how he would be able to defeat his long time foe, but he couldn't really think clearly. His thoughts were still focused on who had hacked into his affairs. He was really angry that his security company was doing it from the inside. Snakes really can't be trusted after all it seemed.

The mess was going to be massive, he could feel it already. Although the contract could potentially be breached and they could get counter-sued, he requested that Shikamaru do a full investigation on the hacks and the information that has been downloaded.

He couldn't really think off hand who would benefit the most out of taking his work, but there had been a lot of landscaping companies looking to buy rights to some of his more famous designs. He wouldn't necessarily be surprised if it was one of his major competitors.

It seemed ridiculous to him in general; he planted flowers, created peaceful sanctuaries. It's not like he was some sort of international spy or some high-class organisation with secrets that would dominate the world. He shrugged to the ceiling and sat up in his bed. He passed both of his hands through his hair while shaking the strands lose in an attempt to rid himself of the current worries, but it was futile. He slid across the bed expertly before standing up unsteadily, his eyes focused on his goal, and took a few steps towards his graph table before digging out the pictures provided by his hostess.

'_Might as well work on the drafts for Hinata's garden,'_ he challenged himself and quickly went through shiny images, trying to situate the room in his head as he walked out of his bedroom and tiptoed carefully past Hinata's room. Last thing he wanted to do was disturb her. He knew what Sakura was like when he would accidentally wake her on one of his missions to design and conquer; he didn't really want to find out what the bi-polarism in Hinata would create at four in the morning.

Just because _he_ had insomnia didn't mean he had to push it on other people.

'_First things first,_' he thought excitedly as the image of a fresh brewed cup of coffee floated teasingly before him, '_I need to find the coffee pot._' He stalked the hallway and invaded the kitchen, searching for the contraption and nearly fell into depression thinking the Hyuuga's did not like coffee.

'_Ludicrious!_' he thought as he resumed his efforts. Within a few more minutes, he'd found it sitting next to the grinds. He tried to hide his glee, but his shit-eating grin betrayed him as he filled the coffee pot with water and measured the grounds. He flicked on the switch and resumed his original search.

Making his way out of the kitchen, he ended up inside the living room. He glanced around quickly, his right hand resting on his hip as he used the other one to bring the picture closer for inspection. He could see some of the living room in the back ground, so he wasn't too far off.

The rising sunlight caught his attention and he stared at the gigantic panes before him. He followed the gleam of the window's reflection to a very stylish orange piece of furniture. He smirked as he spied this very comfortable looking ottoman sitting alone before the sunrise and decided that chair would look perfect in his room. He made the mental note to take it there once he found the room he was looking for.

He crossed the living room into another one that was emanating a huge amount of light. Being a very curious individual, Naruto bee-lined straight for it and strolled in like he owned the place.

"Here you are," he spoke out loud to no one but ghosts and morning light. He grinned as the room stood empty, prepped for his little future sanctuary. He walked around, taking mental notes on where the morning light began and eyed outside the large glass panes to where it would end in the evening. There were no buildings in the way, so this room would basically be flooded with light all day.

The glass was fairly thick, assuring Naruto that there wouldn't be much of an issue with the coldness of winter. No door to the outside was even better. He cracked his knuckles and smiled, an idea forming inside his head, but before he could finish the thought, the coffee's aroma snuck in behind him and his shoulders drooped, took in a deep breath and made a lengthy 'Ah' sound.

Naruto mentally prepared his schedule for the day. He deleted most of his other engagements, sleep being one of them, and added Coffee, Orange Chair and creating a rough draft.

* * *

'_How much more could there be hidden inside my mind?'_ Hinata thought to herself as she fought an unwelcomed chill despite the warmth in her room. She had calmed down enough since waking that she was now positive there was no zombie waiting in the shadows to eat her soul, but the scrapping noise in the hallway earlier had nearly caused her a heart attack.

It took a few moments to realize that it was Naruto dragging something back to his room. He had unknowingly managed to dispel her from her childish nightmare and she begun to think rationally once more.

Hinata threw back the blankets and climbed out of bed. She disregarded the comfort of her slippers and remained barefoot, enjoying the coolness against the pads of her feet. She dug out an old sweat shirt and threw it on before adjusting her pyjama pants and strolling out the door. She carefully tiptoed past Naruto's room when she didn't hear any sounds from inside. She knew what _she_ was like when it was four in the morning and unceremoniously awoken, so she wasn't willing to find out what he was like just yet.

She could smell coffee from the kitchen and she raised a brow in a curious manner; maybe she had been stealthy for no reason considering the coffee maker had just finished pouring itself. Recalling the scraps and grunts earlier from the hallway she decided to track down where it could have come from. The first logical thing was to consider what was heavy enough for Naruto to be unable to lift off the ground.

She narrowed her eyes at the scratched surface of her hard wood floor and followed the trail backwards from his room. She arrived in the living room and stared at the beautiful view from the window and was struck with a dreadful feeling.

Her favourite chair had gone missing.

She narrowed her eyes and kept her annoyance in check for who ever had taken it. She hoped it was Naruto, because if it wasn't in his room, she would make sure that heads would roll. She back tracked towards the kitchen and sighed, knowing full well that it was most likely her unwanted company that had taken the ottoman. He had a perverse obsession with orange for one thing and he didn't seem to have any conscious knowledge of etiquette as a guest.

So far, he'd manage to completely re-write the book on "How to stay at a Hyuuga Homestead" and threw aside Hinata's personal boundaries like a used cup of instant ramen. She took two cups out of the cupboard and placed them on the counter, filled them coffee and made her way carefully towards his room.

Usually when she was feeling unsettled, she'd crash on her chair and watch the sunrise, but a certain chair stealer had prevented her routine. He would have to suffer the consequences of her presence in _his _sanctuary.

* * *

Naruto watched her from the corner of his eye as she settled down on the large chair he'd brought in that morning; she had placed two cups of coffee on his draft table a few moments before, startling him. Her feet tucked themselves as she leaned against the large arm of the ottoman; she stared outside the patio door, not wanting to disturb him.

He turned his head slightly towards her; his hand had stopped gliding the pencil across the paper on the draft table and he squinted his eyes a little in confusion, wondering what exactly had brought her into the guest room. He picked up the cup of coffee and took a small sip, lifted it in acknowledgment and nodded his thanks. She merely glared at him.

She exuded anxiety despite the angry look. She chewed on her lower lip and he thought he saw her shaking a little, as though there had been a chill in the room. He shrugged slightly and focused his attention on the private garden he had finally begun to design. He was on a roll after his morning exploration and didn't want to lose the inspiration provided by the morning sun.

As Hinata listened to the sounds of the pencil scratching, she suddenly became very _aware_ of the man sitting before her, deep in concentration. His brow furrowed and his mouth moved lightly while he chewed on a piece of gum. She followed the scars on his cheeks down to his jaw and continued from there; she was fascinated by the movement of muscles. Her gaze nearly licked the skin when she noticed his heart beating at a pulse point. The beat was slow, steady and powerful; she felt her own match his unconsciously, her nerves settling.

She was startled slightly when he stretched, scratching the back of his neck. The popping sounds of the vertebrae would normally make her cringe, but it only made her watch the movement of his shoulders closer as he pushed them forward in an effort to release tension building there. He grunted in relief when it popped again and for some unknown reason that made her cheeks warm.

'_Childish,'_ she thought, but she couldn't tear her eyes from his back. She wanted to touch him. She averted her gaze when the thought crossed her mind and missed his glance over his shoulder. Naruto raised a brow; he thought he felt her heavy stare on him, but she was still staring at the floor. Her body language had shifted slightly, more relaxed, but it was still stiff and unpleasant.

"Is something wrong?" he asked finally. He didn't mind her in the room; she wasn't as loud as Sakura and far from an annoying distraction from his work. She was quite calming to be honest. He was well aware, however, that Hinata wasn't one to come near him unless there was something she needed to speak to him about.

She looked up with a blush still dusting her cheeks as she argued with Ero-Hinata and Heiress-Hinata on their conflicting opinions in regards to the blond. Their eyes met and, unlike her newly emerging self, he didn't waver from their meeting. It was a bit confrontational for her and he was obviously oblivious to her inner conflict. She felt her heart beat increase when his eyes focused on her, his attention entirely on her.

Why had she come in here? All thoughts of the chair flew out of her mind and she was suddenly feeling nervous, unsettled and insecure all at the same time. How could one look make her fall apart like that?

She did, however, recall the original reason as to why she had ventured outside of her room. She didn't want to be alone and had come in here without thought of the consequences after her nightmares and her brush with the imaginary zombie in her room. The one thing she knew about this man was that he exuded calmness, confidence and he was a beam of light in her darkness.

He was becoming a sanctuary of sorts for her and that revelation startled her to the point that her eyes widen. Something which only made Naruto more curious, being the nosy individual he is by nature.

"Do..." she started, but she was suddenly overwhelmed by his presence. His charisma had taken over the room and she was feeling unsettled.

"Do?" he repeated, his eyes were twinkling in the early morning sunlight coming through the patio door. She fidgeted under his stare and he blinked and raised a brow wondering what had her all tongue tied.

"Do you... ever," she looked away from him, "wish you could go back?"

"Go back where?" He was a bit confused at the question. She shifted her weight in the large chair and sunk deeper into the material, trying to persuade the furniture to swallow her whole. It wasn't working and she was starting to believe she was knowingly setting herself up for intimate moments in rebellion to her careful planned isolation.

"To the past," she continued. Naruto put his pencil behind his ear after she looked away, embarrassed that she'd brought up such a silly hypothetical question. He leaned back against his chair in thought to the heavy question.

"Depends." He looked her way before linking his hands behind his head and crossing his feet as he got himself comfortable. That position was quite distracting for the Ero-Heiress. Her eyes tried not to gaze upon his form and focus on the floor, but her attempts were failing miserably.

"Depends?" she asked as she dropped one leg off the ottoman. Her foot settled on the small carpet and dug her toes into the material, trying to distract herself. She decided to focus on his face, but she had forgotten she had deemed him handsome and she was _devastated_ when her pale lilac eyes met with golden skin.

"Yeah, depends on the reason," he said again, a bit more confident. He wasn't sure where the conversation was going, but he wasn't about to turn her away considering she was finally opening up a little to him.

"What... what if it was about regret?" she asked softly, her gaze moving from his face to the messy draft table. Her eyes lingered on the drawings there, almost drinking up his hand writing, trying to etch the curves and smoothness into her memory. For what reason, she didn't know, but she wanted to know more about him.

It struck him as odd the way she was acting and it sort of dawned on him why she would allow herself to enter his room, dredge through foreign territory and meet with the enemy bringing a peace offering of coffee. She was lonely. While she was looking down at her fingers, he didn't miss her haunted eyes, playing a memory that had resurfaced.

He hated to admit it, but there was only one way to drive the Heiress out of the Hinata driver seat and he prayed he wasn't going to earn himself a kick in the ass from Hinata or Sakura for this attempt at comforting the troubled young woman.

"No," he answered after a few minutes. She was surprised by his answer and her raised brow made him smile, subsequently disarming her from her defences. He debated a few more seconds on his decisions, weighed the positives versus the negatives and mentally shrugged. He pushed his doubt out of his mind and went for it. He got up from the chair and swallowed the few steps between them as he motioned to her with his right hand to move over.

"Scoot, woman," he said teasingly. She glared at him.

She started to argue that there was no room, but he pushed her over quite forcibly, making her more compliant than she wanted to be. He was refusing to listen to her deranged reason and rolled his eyes at her incoherent sputters and excuses. While she was ungraciously shoved into the corner of the ottoman, her hair had spread out even more, getting caught up in the lint, cracks and nooks of the material.

He put an arm over the top of the large seat and settled next to her, squeezed in while she tried to avoid touching him. She struggled to break free, but his weight was winning and she stopped when he gave her a confused _"where are you going"_ look and gave in. His warmth against her was somewhat unwelcomed, but she didn't mind it entirely; she had been chilled to the core from her nightmare and secretly appreciated the body heat he provided.

'_Just this one time,'_ she justified to herself as a blush spread lightly. She stiffened when she felt his breath on her neck and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was leaning his head against the back of the chair and staring at the ceiling, trying to come up with the right words to explain why he had said no.

"I wouldn't want to go back," he started, but she was having trouble focusing on his words. His warmth was invading her; his very masculine scent of coffee, sleepy sweat and musk assaulted her nose and she could hear his heart beat. She was mesmorised for a moment by how that constant regular beat exuded power, strength and comfort. She wanted to lean on that feeling, wanted to claim it as hers.

Again, she was startled by her own admission and tried to suppress this new feeling, but Ero-Hinata had won the battle against her other persona and was relishing the feel of his flesh against her own, even if it was just through clothing. His voice fluttered the edge of her miscued sanity and brought her attention back from her lingering want to the topic at hand.

"…because regret is what creates who you are, how you will be and how it will teach you to treat others, either with great respect or disrespect." He shifted in the ottoman, forcing the heiress closer to him. "It's very humbling to regret and to understand what regret means." He was picking at her walls again and she wasn't mad about it, necessarily.

"W-w-what do you mean?" she asked softly, embarrassed she had stuttered. Naruto grinned at the slip and he had unknowingly grabbed on to a strand on her long tussled hair thinking it was the lint on the chair. He rolled it between his thumb and index as he continued to think, blissfully ignorant.

She, on the other hand, had noticed and had frozen at the subconscious action. Her heart was picking up a strange speed and there was a lump in her belly, heavy and light at the same time. Fluttering memories hazed barely out of reach as he continued to touch her lightly, unknowingly unleashing unimaginable conflict as the Heiress resurfaced, trying to unseat Ero-Hinata from the current throne. She could have sworn she heard a maniacal laugh from the seat of her mind, but she chose to disregard it for the sake of her mental stability and focused again on Naruto.

"Well, if I were to go back and prevent certain things that happened to me, or whomever, I think it would entirely change my view on life and how I react to it." He spoke softly, his voice held a sadness to it that made her turn towards him. She caught him looking distant, his eyes unfocused and she used that tiny window to capture his eyes for her own selfish reasons.

It was intimidating to say the least. His eyes were touched with green, gold and she thought she saw a hint of red in the iris. They whispered promises she didn't want to listen too, afraid of what they would uncover from her. She was growing increasingly bold as the seconds ticked by and without thinking, she wanted to know what had brought on that fore-longed look.

"Did something happen that made you regret?" she asked tentatively. Her curiosity to learn more about this man, to discover what it was that everyone seemed to know about her history with him, had suddenly become more than just a curious endeavour. It was her purpose that morning. He let his head roll towards her before lifting it. He gave her a soft smile, but she didn't buy it; his eyes weren't reflecting the feeling he was trying to show.

"Well..." he looked away towards the patio door, "a lot of things happen in life that make you regret, I think. Promises can't heal another's heart," he said absent-mindedly. She frowned at his comment.

'_What did you promise?' _she wanted to ask, wanted to take his own haunted look away from the sunlight he brought into the room, but she couldn't bring herself to form the words. Something about the way he was twisting her hair, the way his body leaned against _her_ for support and the distant stare prevented the question.

"What is making you regret, Hinata?" he whispered the question, breaking her train of thought. The intimate position, the thick sound of his voice made it hard for her to focus. She turned to look at him and found him staring at her intently.

"I..." she started, he moved closer to her and her eyes fell to his lips. "I... was the reason my mother died," she revealed. He frowned at her words and stopped twisting the hair between his fingers.

"And what, on this good earth, would ever make you think that?" he asked, surprisingly stern. She tried to shrug and look away, but her eyes clouded over which made her blink, frowning at the unusual feeling that was lumped inside her.

"I..." she squeaked out, her hands covered her face and she let out a sigh. Her fingers were pried apart by his hands. She blinked another tear away and she didn't want to look up.

"Look at me," he whispered. She shook her head and he squeezed her hands in comfort. "Look at me, Hinata," this time his voice held a command she found hard to refuse and looked up. His face held a seriousness that made her pause.

"You have nothing to be guilty of, Hinata. Forgive yourself." He smiled softly at her and once the words left his mouth, she understood finally that he was right. She truly needed to forgive herself; to shed the guilt caused by her father's anger and to forgive her father's indiscretions.

She cracked. Her carefully built wall had finally been pierced and it crumbled.

Naruto pulled her close once the thick tears began to fall freely, her mouth open in a silent wail of regret. He pulled her tightly against him, shushing her while caressing her hair in comfort. Forgiving was the hardest thing to do, but to forgive yourself was nearly impossible - but with Naruto's permission, she could finally begin.

* * *

This was really hard to write ~_~ How emotional! I'm relatively pleased with how it turned out. I think anyways. What a girly chapter XD

No, don't worry – She's on an emotional rollercoaster as her memories return so she's not acting like herself in this chapter, a bit OOC I can say for my fanfic but trust me, she's far from back to normal – Next chapter gonna be angsty ah-wee~

Look at the shinny button below – It has review written on it o.O!


	7. Turbulent Repose

**A small crack in perfection  
**_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:  
_I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN** –This... this chapter was really hard to write and to get to flow correctly, if it wasn't for my beta I think I would have quit this idea all together and killed off my plot bunny that started this. On the plus side, chapter eight is already started! Oh... Twice Shy is on a mini hiatus while I work out how the story will develop further. I haz no inspiration.

Thank you _Jolly Green_ for the beta, I appreciate it. Your techno battle is solely yours, without your nerdiness and mine – it wouldn't be as fun to write and include. You are most assuredly credited for this one!

* * *

**Chapter 7  
**_Turbulent Repose_

Naruto begrudgingly cracked an eye open as the mid-morning sun seeped through the patio window and flooded his room. Groaning in misery, he now knew why Hinata had put in such ugly dark window treatment.

'_That's gonna go right back up,'_ he half mumbled, shifting his weight in the ottoman under the heavy blanket and pulling it closer to him in an attempt to dive back into the bliss of sleep. Only his blanket wasn't cooperating. He shifted again only to be stopped by a strange... feminine mewl.

He blinked away the remaining sleep from his eyes and his back muscle spasmed painfully as he leaned his head forward to catch a better glimpse of what weighed heavily on him. His sleepy gaze met with a tussled mane of indigo hair. He stiffened in shock as it dawned on him that it was a _person_, and not a blanket.

'_What?'_ He scrambled his memory for a hint as to what had happened. '_Ok... I still have my clothes on. So does she. So far so good.'_ He shifted a little more in an attempt to get the feeling back in his arm while trying hard to ignore the feel of her breasts placed dangerously close to mini-Naruto down south.

'_Oh right...'_ he thought. He remembered now; Hinata had broken down in front of him. From what he knew about her persona, she would be severely humiliated if she realized she'd fallen asleep and he'd passed out under her while unknowingly snuggling for several... hours? Minutes? He really wasn't sure what time it was. He could see the sun still rising in the patio and ignored the cramping in his lower leg as Hinata shifted again with a small and excessively feminine snore; a quiet chuckle escaped him.

Hinata rubbed her cheek into his chest. The feel of something slimy made him pause and he was suddenly aware that his favourite shirt had been abused. His chest felt wet and sticky from her use of it as a handkerchief in her fit. He didn't want to think about how much snot, tears and drool been caked on it. He wasn't sure if he should save the shirt or burn it in disgust.

Naruto was not experienced with that many women, unlike Kiba's vast and lengthy temporary track record, but he knew one thing for sure: crying was not attractive on a woman. It made them runny, sticky and mostly incoherent if Hinata was anything to go by. She had hiccupped apologies between wails for nearly an hour while she quietly worked out her problems.

Well, that was an incorrect description; none of it had been quiet. It had been snorts, hacks and girly sniffles, but he had to admit that it had caused a different reaction in him compared to when Sakura cried. With his ex, he'd always felt uncomfortable; racked with a strange sense of guilt that he wasn't ready to face or admit to when she turned on the water works. But with Hinata... it had been very different.

Maybe it was the simple fact that Hinata refused to let anything affect her; the constant push on herself to show she wasn't frail, to demonstrate her strength in character, her pride. The simple fact that the Heiress had so publicly broken down had made him pay more attention to her body language.

Her eyes had reflected so much emotion in the split seconds he had ordered her to look at him. It had tugged at his heart and felt the uncontrollable urge to pull her close to him and soothe that lost, lonely look that ravaged the pale lilac eyes. He had been struck by their beauty, the depth of feeling was endless, unspoken emotion brimming to break out and he wanted to be the one to make it happen.

Naruto had trouble wrapping his head around Hinata's personas. Maybe Kiba had been right after all – women with memory loss were... _'Wait, what? Did I just say Kiba was right _again_?'_ He felt a shudder of disgust crawl up his spine. It was rare when the dog owner was correct in anything and Naruto would openly admit to it. This was a secret for the dark ages; he'd kill anyone that ever found out he actually thought highly of the other idiot that made them a pair. He groaned as he finished the thought in his head. That was the final nail in the coffin; he really needed to get his head checked once this project was over and done with.

He glanced down to the silent blob curled up under his chin only to realize that he had unknowingly begun to play with a loose strand of her hair while he tried to figure out how to get back to work without disturbing her. He shifted his weight slightly, testing how tightly wound around him she was and found that she was only leaned on him; he could easily slip out from under him if he wished it. With far more trouble than anticipated, he managed to free himself without disturbing her. Careful not to wake her, he tiptoed around the ottoman and found a light blanket on his bed, covered the girl and sought out the abandoned cups of coffee on his precious graph table.

By the feel of the ceramic, the coffee was cold and he wasn't about to make another pot, leaving just one solution to this little problem. _'Microwave,'_ he thought happily.

He dipped a finger in the black liquid for good measure and tasted it to see which had sugar in it. Not surprisingly, both lacked sugar. He grimaced, but he couldn't complain considering his host had brought them in with good intentions. He entered the kitchen and placed the mugs on the counter as he thought more on the design he had finally figured out and needed to contact Kiba again to set up the team and materials needed for this.

'_It's going to be an interesting day.'_

* * *

_Angry White Boy Polka_ sprung to life from Kiba's pocket indicating his boss was calling. He hummed a few seconds before flipping it open, trying not to crack up. He remembered the day he picked that specific ring tone to annoy Naruto and his reaction had been priceless, convincing him to keep it on a permanent basis.

"Yes, my dear," he piped up, smirking. Naruto rolled his eyes and quietly cursed that stupid song he knew played when he called.

"I got most of the designs figured out in my head. I need you to pick someone we both trust to deal with the Hyuuga as a liaison since I can't be there and you'll be busy with our other projects," he added while sipping the newly reheated coffee. Kiba blew out the air from his cheeks and thought a moment; his brain was groggy from the lack of sleep.

"What about Konohamaru?" he suggested. There was no objection at the other end of the line so he assumed it meant it was a decent idea, but he needed to convince him.

"He's your apprentice, might as well give him this job. He'd be extra careful considering it would be his first gig alone." He yawned out the last bit.

"True. I'll call him then and set up a meeting between him and Hanabi." He didn't want to admit it, but Kiba had another great idea. _'Damn it, at this rate I'm going to have to give him a raise.'_

"You're gonna have to give me a raise if this keeps up, Naruto," Kiba added without thought. Naruto sputtered at the other end of the line when he swallowed his coffee the wrong way.

"Are you ok?" he asked his boss with genuine concern.

"For fuck's sake, I told you to stop reading my mind," Naruto coughed out, hitting his chest to clear out the liquid.

Kiba blinked and shook his head, trying to avoid laughing. "Great minds think alike?" he quoted. Naruto snorted, ignoring him.

"What about Shikamaru? How's that little problem coming along?" he sipped his coffee again, careful to review the "_How to drink for Dummies_" manual in his head. Kiba shrugged to no one and looked around the corner from where he was standing. He spotted the pineapple head leaning back casually, lost in thought over the particular issue.

"Well..." he started "Shikamaru has a few ideas on tracking down who's stupid enough to try and steal our work. He's in there right now creating some program to crack through the defences? I don't really know to be honest, you'd have to ask him," he heard Naruto sigh miserably on the other end of the line.

"This better not be super complicated. I have enough issues to deal with here already," he moaned out in complaint. Kiba raised a brow and smirked.

"What'd you do now?"

There was a lengthy pause from the blond and Kiba was a little concerned, "What did you _do_?" he repeated again.

"Well..."

"I know that 'well'." He deadpanned and Naruto grumbled unhappily.

"It's not necessarily something _I _did," he said dejectedly, "I'm just not sure how to deal with Hinata. She's remembering a lot of things from what I can gather, but I didn't know being her psychiatrist was part of the contract." He stared at his cup, his mind playing over all the things that had slipped out of her during her break down. There was a lot of hurt inside of her and he wasn't sure if he was the right person to deal with it all.

"You're so fucking dumb," Kiba interjected. Naruto frowned and snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, you better get in her pants soon or I will. She just needs a good dicking." Naruto blinked and Kiba gave himself another point.

"You're so crass," he grumbled, "and that doesn't count towards that board!" The blond pinched the bridge of his nose in disbelief. Kiba snorted and disagreed quite adamantly.

"Totally counts. I bet you're pinching the bridge of your nose." He pointed towards the wall, imagining Naruto in front of him. The blond refused to admit anything.

"No, you're completely wrong," he lied. "That's not really the advice I'm looking for." The snort of disbelief irritated him; he was perfectly aware that Kiba was making fun of him.

"You know better than asking me for advice. Last time I checked, I didn't have tits and my hair wasn't pink." Kiba looked away from Shikamaru and smirked as Naruto busted out laughing.

"You're lucky Sakura didn't hear you say that."

"Pfft. She doesn't scare me; I never fucked her so she has no pussy control over me," he casually added before he noticed Shikamaru crack his knuckles and bend over his laptop. "Maybe you should just ask her, be a bit more assertive on why she's being so double-agent."

"Just ask?"

"Yeah, like: Hey I noticed you're bi-polar, wanna tell me what's up?" Naruto cracked up. Kiba made it sound easy.

"I don't think that's going to work." Kiba shrugged again.

"Never know 'till you try. I gotta go boss, Shikamaru's about to get this show on the road and I want to see." He flipped the phone off before Naruto could even say good-bye.

* * *

Shikamaru had spent the entire morning breaking through the walls of security layering the network of White Serpent Inc., the parent company of his _new_ client's old IT company. To his dismay, the development had been at a snail's pace, but he had to take extra care and use more measures than necessary. Alerting whoever had set up the sophisticated blockades was not an option at this point if he wanted to solve this mystery.

The lazy technician paused momentarily in his endeavors to lean back in his chair and stretched, relieving the tension that had accumulated in his shoulders. He heard Kiba talking to Naruto on the phone, giving some sort of half-arsed update that made him cringe. Dumbing this part down to his new boss was going to be difficult and a complete pain in the ass. Pushing the upcoming and unavoidable report away, he turned his gaze back to the monitor and started to pick apart what he hoped was the last layer of security.

"Troublesome..." he mumbled as he ran into another blockage. Shikamaru had seen and created many unique firewall or security algorithm in his day, but this one took the cake. It was unbelievably robust in its entirety and he shook his head, acknowledging that his unseen opponent was worthy. Usually, once you broke through the first layer of security, getting through any following layers was simply a matter of following the same pattern used to break the first.

Not this one. It was like a force screen; nothing in or out without its say-so.

He narrowed his eyes in thought, chewing on the straw from his forgotten pop. He realized earlier that the trouble he was having wasn't in breaking the walls down, it was the fact that he had to constantly change the way he approached each successive layer of their network. It was almost like it had been created by multiple programmers; not just one.

Shikamaru furrowed his brow and his fingers froze above the keys of his laptop. '_That's it!_' he thought as he slapped his forehead. He finished breaking though the current layer before minimizing the screen and bringing up the source code he'd been copying as he went along. He then brought up a blank command prompt and got started.

* * *

Naruto settled once more at his table, hot coffee in hand, and picked up his pencil. He looked over the draft and made a few changes, settled on the dimensions and began to list the items he would need for the base of his sketch to work. He really needed to observe how the light moved in that room to really make this design perfect. He leaned back into his chair and stared out the window, failing to see the lump on the ottoman stir awake.

Hinata blinked. She was aware that she was not in her room and that there was a strange smelling blanket over her to block out the light of the sun. The distinctive sound of a pencil scratching told her that she was indeed in Naruto's room and everything she thought was a nightmare had really happened. She had broken down miserably in front of him and _cried_. Her face felt rough, puffy and her hair was sticking to skin. How was she going to get out of here with her pride still intact and inflict a severe memory loss on Naruto to avoid this?

* * *

Tayuya's day had started off miserably.

The ex-Hyuuga Corporation tech was greeted earlier that morning with her co-workers, Ukon and Sakon, bitching about how their weekly purge of the Rasengan Landscaping server had been interrupted and how they couldn't re-establish the connection. If that hadn't been bad enough, their boss Kabuto had come down to personally light a fire under their asses to get it back up.

Now she was facing a new problem that was really rubbing her the wrong way. Someone had tried to gain access to _their_ servers a couple of hours afterwards, only to be shut down hard by the complex firewall she and her team had created. She tried to trace the would-be hacker, but it ended up being a wild goose chase when they discovered it was a tele-marketing company out of Indonesia. She seriously doubted they would be trying to hack them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her large teammate stood up from his computer and started to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going, fatass?" she asked with an irritated sneer. The rotund man glared over his shoulder with his hand lingering lightly on the door.

"Tayuya, you know that women shouldn't use such language," he chastised lightly, knowing full well it wasn't going to change her opinion on the matter. "I'm just going to the restroom. I think you can handle things here for a few minutes." He opened the door to the darkened room and stepped out.

The red-headed woman snorted derisively and turned back to her computer, thinking on a few good insults to bark back, but couldn't be bothered when the door clicked loudly behind her.

"Fucking shit bag," she grumbled as she continued her attempts to connect to Rasengan Landscaping's server, but stopped short when a notification popped up and let her know of yet another intrusion. She quickly switched screens to see check the hacker's progress and paled when she saw that they'd already bypassed the majority of the safeguards.

"_Fuck!_"

* * *

Shikamaru smirked as his worm burrowed right through their firewall like it wasn't even there. After spending close to an hour putting the code together, he'd simply pointed the resultant worm in the direction of the enemy server and sat back to enjoy the show. While he _could_ have spent all day breaking through the layers composing the Firewall From Hell, he instead opted to go the simple route.

He'd been bypassing the damn thing all morning, so he had a _very_ good idea about what the rest of the server's defences were like. Based on his conclusions and various scenarios, he'd devised the perfect plan to take it down.

As he watched, the worm was making its way to the last threshold standing between him and the data he wanted. Being a lazy genius had its perks sometimes.

He idly noticed the other hacker's attempts to stop his code as he prepared a second hard drive to store all the data he could get his hands on once he had access. Turning back to his keyboard, he counted down the few remaining seconds in his head.

'_Four... three... two..._'

Kiba raised a brow in curiosity as Shikamaru's laptop seemed to come to life.

* * *

"Damn it to hell! Why me? If I ever get my hands on this piece of trash…"

Tayuya was _sure_ that this day couldn't get any worse. In less than a minute, a worm had completely destroyed the once assumed unbreakable firewall and was busy tearing through their file systems... and there was nothing she could do about it. It shrugged off everything she'd thrown at it and kept going like it didn't even notice. Albeit it was only a few thousand lines of code, not a sentient being, but _still_. She just couldn't stop it short of physically disconnecting the main server line. Her eyes widen in understanding. _'Jesus...'_

"That's it!" she exclaimed as she jumped out of her chair and ran through the rows of server towers towards the far end of the room. Slamming against the back wall as she turned the sharp corner, she saw the metal box mounted on the wall where all of the main cables from the server farm ran to. Closing the distance in a flash, she was stopped cold as she realized that she had _no_ idea which cable was the main!

"Fuck it!" Tayuya grabbed the entire bundle of cables and, with a fierce yank, ripped all of the cables from the box. As the box belched out smoke and sparks, she gasped for breath, her brow furrowed in irritation.

"Damn it to hell! Now I've got to explain this shit..."

* * *

"Troublesome..."

Shikamaru had gotten a great deal of data during the short span of time that he'd had access to the system, but he'd have to sort through it all before he could come to any conclusions. He looked over his shoulder and eyed Kiba. He knew the man behind him would understand most of the jargon in his report... but he'd have to work with Kiba to make it simple enough for a certain idiot.

* * *

Naruto raised a brow as he watched Hinata sit up quite stiffly. She didn't look at him as she smoothed out her hair and pulled it out of the dried drool on her cheek. It certainly wasn't very lady-like, but he wasn't going to say anything.

"Good morning." He smiled at her. She continued to avoid looking at him and merely nodded in acknowledgement. That irked him a little bit, but he pushed it aside, knowing full well she would be embarrassed considering the situation. He was glad he'd managed to sneak out from under her; he could just imagine what _that_ situation would have brought on.

"Your coffee is still decently warm if you want it," he said as he pointed to the cup on his table and glanced her way. She was still staring at the floor. "I reheated it a little while ago." She still wouldn't look at him.

If he hadn't been ridiculously exhausted, this wouldn't have bothered him. He was used to being ignored by other women, but there was something in her aristocrat behaviour that was really rubbing him the wrong way just then.

She was the one who came in his room in the first place and used him as a Kleenex. Never mind the fact that she had also requested him to play psychiatrist. She had no business making him feel like shit for her embarrassment. He sighed.

"You know, I'll make sure to forget what happened, if you want," he said casually before turning back towards his drafts. His mood had darkened. He didn't expect that saying he'd ignored her development in humanity would annoy him so much, but he was irked. She fought every step she was making towards being her old self like a wild-cat, refusing to acknowledge her own identity.

She still ignored him. He fumed quietly. The Silent Treatment was not something he was fond of, nor did she know it was his catalyst in arguments with his friends.

Hinata wanted to answer him, but she'd lost her voice. Her control over her frail emotions was iffy at best; she was feeling discombobulated and wondered if she was still dreaming. He debated ignoring her, just focusing on the drafts like he used to when Sakura pushed the same silent fight with him, but Kiba's words were still playing in his head.

'_Just ask her.' _

Could he really do that? He should really leave it alone; she was obviously very conflicted about whatever she remembered last night, but getting the cold shoulder from her after spending all that time comforting her was not settling well with him.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked her. She finally looked up from the floor and focused on his lips, avoiding his eyes. He dipped his head down at a weird angle, trying to catch her eyes, but he discovered she was like some sort of ninja; she completely avoided any contact.

"Hinata?" She still refused to look at him or answer him. He rolled his eyes and turned from her, irritated at her behaviour.

"If you're just going to ignore me, you can leave." Like he needed this shit right now, he had better things to do than worry about her Heiress persona. She flinched at his tone of voice; he seemed angry. She didn't move from her staked claim on the ottoman and bit her lip, wondering if she could still walk out of here like nothing had happened.

She gathered her courage and tried to stand up, but his voice cut her off from her efforts.

"You know," he was watching her again and she felt the weight of his thoughts in the room "maybe you should tell me what's on your mind." She watched him carefully; his words hadn't quite sunk in. He was positive this wasn't going to work.

"I noticed that you struggle with letting yourself be your old self." He glanced away when she narrowed her eyes. This was a touchy subject apparently.

"I do not _struggle_," she nearly hissed out. He raised his brows in disbelief.

"I'm pretty sure you struggle quite a bit, considering a few hours ago you were a crying mess." He pointed at her, thinking he was making a good point, but his jaw clenched when her eyes turned almost cold.

"I would rather we did not discuss my current personal problems," she said with a tone that clearly told him to fuck the hell off. He saw this as a clear challenge to distinctively get her to speak about it and that's exactly what he did.

"I think you need to. You're acting awful bi-polar." He felt a chill in the room. _'Ok, that wasn't the right word,' _he noted as the temperature continued to drop.

"I'm acting how?" She stiffened; her body language was completely different from before and he mentally cringed. He just destroyed the efforts from the last twenty-four hours to bring her out of the Hyuuga shell. The Heiress was back in full force, fighting tooth and nail to keep the throne. He sighed.

"What I mean is-"

"Keep your nose out of my business," she cut him off. That was the last straw for him.

"What?" he said quite sternly, disbelieving of her reaction. She was startled by the way he had suddenly stood up and glared at her. She watched him tower over him and she suddenly felt very small. So she stood up as well, accepting his challenge.

"Stay out of my business," she repeated, this time with a little more fire behind her words. Something snapped inside him.

"Who was it exactly that came into my room looking for a shoulder to cry on?" he raised his voice above normal and she responded the same way.

"You stole my chair," she offered in a detached tone.

"Like that explains everything," he muttered out, stepping around her and began to drag the chair out of his room as he continued to glare at her. Even though they were having a disagreement, she couldn't help but admire the way his body moved back and forth as he dragged the ottoman a few feet.

"I'll bring it back, your highness," he spat out. She flinched again; she hated that title.

"Don't call me that," she retorted. Naruto paused and glanced at her, wondering if that was a hint of irritation in her voice, and snorted, wondering if Sakura had been right about her origin in robotics.

"Don't call you what?" he taunted. She narrowed her eyes and her lips twitched.

"Well, well. What's this? A hint of irritability? I was starting to think all you could feel was Nothing and Misery." He flicked the fingers towards her as he named his very short list. Her lips thinned and her fists gathered at her sides.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded. Her voice cracking slightly, but he ignored it; hurt that she had completely disregarded him this morning and returned to whatever this persona was. He was getting pretty sick of the back and forth plays and he wanted to get to know the real girl under all those layers.

"Who knows." He tried to end the argument there, but he had unknowingly opened a flood gate in Hinata. He turned back to the ottoman and pulled at it once more, looked at the doorway and tried to remember how he got it in here in the first place. She wasn't done, far from it.

"You don't know anything about me," she whispered harshly, her eyes stung with angry tears. He glanced over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes.

"Hard to, you never stay the same long enough for me to figure it out. At least in elementary you were easy to read." He half mumbled the last part, but he should have really kept it to himself.

He may as well have slapped her with his words. She felt another trickle of memory; fast flashes of him as a young boy far away from her, Sakura's voice listing off his favourite things, the various touches he'd bestowed on her as a child and how she had cherished each of them. Her heart swelled with the knowledge that she had loved him as a child and she was conflicted once more. Why was she remembering this now?

Her girlish crush was back in full force, but she couldn't process the haze of want and anger. Tears had begun to fall against her will. Naruto watched her cry again and he cursed to himself; he'd gone too far. He was getting ready to give in and try to comfort her, but she raised her chin up in defiance. He saw a flash of the old Hinata before him, her chi raised before her father as she defended them at the last martial arts competition they had participated in.

"I will not let you belittle me," she said brokenly. He faltered a little and sighed, leaning his forehead against the back of his hands which were still holding on to the ottoman.

"I'm not... Hinata. Far from it," he mumbled. She sniffled and it tugged at his heart a little.

"I'm not the girl you remember!" she snapped. He could see the conflict on her face; her eyes were deeply confused as she battled her memories in a do or die fashion. He didn't know that she was fully aware now of why she loved him so long ago and she was terrified of the fact that she had begun to crush on him again - this time as an adult and in an entirely different light.

She was angry that Ero-Hinata had won and she let out a strange strangled sound of frustration as she wiped at the offending tears. She hadn't cried in nearly 13 years and for the past week she'd nearly done it every day. She had to get away from him, from _them_.

"I know you're not," he replied, squeezing his eyes shut and pushing back the memory of her as a child. She had loved him back then, but they were miles apart now. There was no way in hell she'd look at him the same way she used to. If only he had known, maybe he would have been able to get her out of her shell then; maybe he could have loved her back.

"I know you don't want to remember us," he started, but she let out another frustrated growl, unaware that she was well aware of her past now and she didn't want it. This was his fault, all his fault!

"Stay out of my life!" she shouted angrily. He was taken by surprise by her outburst and it took a minute to register her demand. He snorted.

"You can't get rid of me that easy, we have a contract." He flicked that in her face quite smugly and she stared at him in disbelief. His argument was quite childish, but instead of being able to respond in a mature manner, she gritted her teeth and stuck out her tongue. He laughed at her.

_Laughed._ She was _furious_.

Before she could really retort, she was hit with another wave of memories, his smile blinded her from the past. His filthy sticky fingers intertwined with her when he picked her off the ground while they practiced. Her cousin Neji's snarky comments only refuted by her Naruto. Droves of emotions poured out of nowhere over whelming her, she couldn't stop it. The voices were loud, the laughter, the tears, the promises. She was spiralling she was -

"...losing control -" she shouted the rest of her thought without meaning to. Naruto recovered from his fit of laughter and raised a brow in confusion. There was something going on that he wasn't privy to and it became clear once her tears began running freely down her face. There was barely a few seconds between her rage and crying and he was more than just confused, her inner struggle was getting ridiculous and he'd had enough.

Control. He was one to live by the seat of his pants, always looking for the challenge. He'd never settle for the safety of a schedule. Who needed that?

"Who says you have to be in control of everything?" he started, causing her to open her eyes. Her hands attempted to cover her ears, but his voice was too loud. She could still hear him through the flesh. "Why do think you need to control what you feel, or anything at all for that matter?" he shouted, getting tired of the argument. She was worse than Gaara at this point; at least he had a medical problem that made him crazy. She whimpered through the tears, knowing full well he was correct, but her father... her father's voice was...

He closed the space between them quickly and gripped her shoulder in an attempt to keep her from turning away. She wanted to disappear, wanted to be invisible again. '_Make... make them stop..._' The voices were jumbled together, screaming, laughing. Crying. The chaos was overwhelming and his voice pierced it, grating on her nerves more than ever. Naruto was having trouble keeping her still; she was struggling hard against him and he could feel the clothes shifting as she slipped away, but she didn't know he had decided he was going to get through to her if it killed him. She let out a strange mewl as he tightened the grip and she couldn't quite figure out what it was exactly he wanted her to say, or do.

"Emotions are -" she started. Her mind's eye could see her father's own – angry, disappointed and she couldn't get away from it. He cut her off with a loud and crude snort of disbelief. His fingers tightened again, bringing her back from what ever corner of her mind that had taken her momentary sanity. She could feel them biting into her skin, but it didn't upset her. In fact, she was grateful since it had dispelled her father's frightening sneer. It still didn't excuse the fact that this argument was getting out of control and so, she resumed her struggle and Naruto continued to glare.

She was feeling frantic, crazy and the voices... the voices!

"Emotions are vital to life," he whispered harshly. His eyes narrowed and they darkened to a deep blue. "I don't know why you think that smiling is a bad thing, or that crying is a sign of weakness, but the Hinata I knew was never afraid to be herself, regardless of the disappointment she thought she may cause."

His comparison broke through like a slap across her face. This Hinata, this adult Hinata was nothing compared to her old shameful self. She stopped fighting him and his grip loosened up. She noticed him visibly relax, but his eyes were still hard, still occupying her being. She couldn't look at his eyes; they were accusing her of something... she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was something she knew she should be ashamed of. She stared at his mouth and although she could hear his boyish voice whispering to her...

"She was someone I was _proud _of. She would _never_ let anyone tell her who to be, how to act, how to..." He didn't quite know how to finish that, but he was sure he'd made his point. Reality and fantasy suddenly stopped merging and his voice fluttered through another barrier without restraint and she was helpless to watch from the sidelines.

Hinata blinked as the last words left his lips. _'Proud?'_ she repeated dumbly. _'He was... proud of me?' _Naruto let go of her shoulders and sighed, turning away. She'd been silent this entire time and he felt like he was talking to a blank canvas. He was at a loss on what to say next. At every turn he'd slam straight into a wall she'd created, refusing to let him in… to let him help her.

Her heart swelled painfully as the memories slowed down, her head ached and the voices started again. '_Who are these people?_' She wanted out of her head. She was also realising at the same time that she still wanted him; to acknowledge her, to love her. But... wasn't she broken goods now? Her mind was unstable, her honour questionable, no control... no control!

She knew that no matter how much she tried to deny it now, it didn't change the fact that she wanted him; now more than ever. It was illogical and something her father would completely disapprove of since Naruto was volatile, unpredictable, outspoken and so bright. He was still mumbling, his added noise was maddening with all the other ones so she decided he needed to shut up. She needed a few minutes of silence so she could process all the memories and emotions flooding her.

"Hinata, I..." He didn't get the chance to finish as he felt her small trembling hands grab his shoulder. She brought his face level to hers and stared fiercely at him as much as her watery eyes would let her, she didn't even register his gaze that was filled with confusion. There was no logic to her thoughts. All she could think was _'Shut up... just shut up.'_

She kissed him, hard and fully on the lips. His eyes widened to near painful levels and he briefly struggled against her fingers that were tightly wound up in his shirt collar. The kiss was anything but romantic; it was filled with anger, sadness and regret.

Naruto pushed her away harshly without meaning to. His eyes narrowed in anger at the unwanted invasion. Hinata lost her footing and crumbled to the ground, but he had been so shocked by her advance he didn't even try to catch her. Her own confused, hurt and angry gaze met his in a challenge he couldn't decide if he wanted to take.

"What the _fuck_?" was all he could manage to say in disbelief. The last thing he had expected from her was a kiss. "Wha- ... I-..." he mumbled, speechless at her unusual behaviour and the rape of his face. She noted the charge of emotion fluttering across his beautiful features; his scars darkened under his flush of anger... maybe embarrassment. She didn't know what he was feeling, but anger was definitely one of them.

'_That's right..._" she was struck with reality once her memories cleared,_ "I am... no longer the little girl infatuated with... I am... I...'_ Memories of her father drilling long, drawled out speeches on how cumbersome emotions were and her lack of discipline.

How he drilled the control of emotion to be perfect, to be without flaw. To _not_ be Hinata, but to be... she frowned at the memory fluttering in of her father's hard eyes spitting angrily, his mouth gritting out every syllable slowly.

"_You are nothing if you are not a Hyuuga! Do not shame us!" he yelled while she fought back tears of loneliness._

That's right; she was _Hyuuga _first and foremost.

His blue eyes were icy and his mouth continued to gape like a fish in a silent demand for an explanation she didn't want to give… _couldn't_ give. She stood up haphazardly from where she'd fallen, smoothed her tussled hair and brushed her thighs smooth of wrinkles. She glanced at him once more and he noted a strange calmness about her. Her eyes void of that confusion that had plagued her since waking in his room that morning.

"I apologize," she said, detached of emotion. Naruto blinked at the sudden change in her. There was finality in the way she bowed her head down, cleared the tears from her cheeks, turned tail and walked away.

She could see him as a little boy in the back of her mind. She silently said her goodbyes and pushed the emerging old persona as deeply as she could, wanting to forget everything again blissfully. Her emotional distress was too much to bear; she had to get away from him before she lost all hope of... of what?

'_What is wrong with me?'_ she thought fearfully, happy that the voices had finally stopped. She heard Naruto say her name with a strange desperation. Her lips still burned with the stolen kiss, but she'd never acknowledge that to herself, to anyone. She didn't look back when he called her again, resisting the command he knew made her obey, and walked out of his line of sight into her own room.

The door clicked behind her as she stood in the darkness of her room. She pressed her back against the door and slid down, fresh tears spilled again and her heart ached. It ached so much she thought she was going to die.

She was not worthy of anyone in this state, she was nothing to be proud of. She let the darkness of her heart envelop her in comfort, she heard Naruto swear and the front door of her home slam shut.

She was not worthy of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

_*snorts while lauging*_ Certainly not a first kiss I've ever read :P R&R!

**Reference:**  
Weird Al Yankovich – Angry White Boy Polka


	8. A Sunny Place in Hell

**A small crack in perfection  
**_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:  
_I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN** – I think my favourite reviews for last chapter involved "train wreck in slow motion" to "cluster fuck of emotions", I'm glad I surprised everyone. Thank you everyone for the great supportive reviews =)

Thank you _Jolly Green_ for the beta, I appreciate it.

**BN** – Even though I fell asleep while doing the bloody thing? XP o.O So many Shika fans! O.o  
**AR** – That's not going to leave a very good impression on the chapter D: Yer fired.

* * *

**Chapter 8  
**_A Sunny Place in Hell_

He groaned while leaning his head against the steering wheel of his car and wrapping his fingers tightly around the rubber. His nails dug into his palms painfully, but he ignored it; his mind was in complete and total chaos over what had just happened. He eyed the house momentarily from the driveway and lightly tapped his forehead against the wheel in a strange pattern, increasing the weight of his head with each 'thump' and swearing under his breath. This was not happening...

'_Not even noon yet and I've crushed someone's livelihood.'_ He leaned away from the wheel and reached into his pants pocket, or tried to, only to realise he had strutted out of the house in his boxers. Groaning again, he shut his eyes tightly, let go of the steering wheel, and rubbed his face with both of his hands in frustration.

"Just... just fantastic," he mumbled through his fingers in disbelief. He'd forgotten his keys on his graph table and after that marvelously dramatic exit, he wasn't about to swallow his pride and waltz back into Hinata's house to retrieve them. His hands combed through his hair as he leaned his head against the leather seat. He continued to stare at the door of her home and unconsciously extended his right hand towards his room, willing for the keys to propel themselves off the desk and come to him.

'_Come on... Get. Out. Here,'_ he thought quite forcefully, but it certainly didn't take a genius to figure out they were staying on the desk and that he was an idiot. How was he supposed to run from his stupidity if he was idly parked in the driveway of his glaring problem?

'_Maybe I can hot wire the car?'_ He shifted his weight and dipped his head below the steering column and eyed the plastic panel there. The mere thought of having to destroy anything in his car for the sake of keeping his pride made him falter and he apologised for even thinking of hurting his little baby. He collapsed his upper body against the lower seat, half sitting – half lying down, his side aching as the shift stick dug into his side. He couldn't remember who had the spare key to his car and asking somebody _that_ would mean openly admitting that he'd majorly fucked up with Hinata and having to put up with their banter.

He frowned, wondering why he was even worried about who would make fun of him for being trapped in his keyless car, outside in the cold, with only boxers and a shirt on. He had more important things to worry about; like how he was going to act normal after that _kiss_ and how he was going to apologize for _shoving_ Hinata onto the ground in a fit of surprise and crushing her now obvious affections.

That had beyond shocked him. His mouth still burned with the forceful pressure of her petite and soft lips against his. Ironically, the feelings she'd put behind that kiss had barely registered with him. His brain had completely shut down when they made contact with his; they'd sparked something old in him and he was a bit confused.

He did like her, but did he like her because she was intriguing or because she used to like him? Did he like this Hinata or did he like the idea that she loved him once upon a time and is flattered by that knowledge? _'This is confusing as hell.'_ He stared at the radio of his car and wondered a moment if he still had the spare cell in the glove box. His free hand reached over, opened it and removed the backup device. He eyed the cell and wondered who he could bail him out.

If he had indeed fallen for the ice princess, he had to make sure it was for the right reasons. She was fragile and adding more instability or uncertainty right now would only make things worse than they already were.

Did he really like her?

"I don't... know," he said out loud to no one. He sat up with a sigh. His left thumb pressed lightly across the keys of the cell phone, his mind wandering over the numbers he knew by heart. He knew Hinata challenged him; there was a tingle when he saw her, and he smiled more. Compared to when he fell in love with Sakura, this feeling was entirely different. Sakura's love was suffocating - bogged down with regrets and promises he didn't know he could fulfill.

Hinata's love was... well, it represented something... It was more... it had more...

"Fuck." He couldn't figure it out. He quickly dialled Kiba's number and grumbled, finally remembering that his spare set was in his office. At least he could get some extra clothes. He might as well go into the office and see what the damage was after that bullshit from this morning.

His mind wandered to Hinata again, the feel of her kiss still lingering. Kiba's voice cut through his thoughts from the phone and as Naruto explained the dire situation he was in, he asked himself a question that shook the foundation of his feelings: was it _really_ Hinata that liked him or was it the old Hinata that was resurfacing?

Either way, he'd drawn a definitive conclusion in the last fifteen minutes: he was a fucking retard through and through; no question about it.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned back into his chair and eyed Kiba as he dug out the cell phone from his pocket and walked into the hallway. That annoying polka was starting to get to him, but the fading laughter from Kiba was becoming equally irritating.

"... fucking retarded, you know that?" was heard clearly by the genius and he rolled his eyes, wondering what Naruto had gotten himself into this time. He brought his attention back to his laptop as his over-worked fingers reached for a near-empty can of pop on his new workspace. He idly took the last sip before crushing it, considering it was only weak aluminum.

Smirking at the sound, he dropped the crushed can on his other table and proudly admired the eight by eight patterns he'd managed to complete with his discarded cans. The irritating laughter drifted in again and Shikamaru could only sigh as he forced his mind back on his little problem.

While digging through the raw data in order to solve this puzzle, he'd found some things that angered and annoyed him greatly. Yakushi Technologies had screwed over Rasengan Landscaping from the second they signed that contract.

Leaning forward, he brought up the spreadsheet he'd made and scrolled down as he shook his head. Naruto's 'babies' had been compromised the instant he let those snakes touch them. The so-called security program that had been installed on the servers had created a permanent backdoor that couldn't be removed short of completely formatting the hard drives; something he knew the blond idiot would never allow without being completely free of the other company.

'_There's more than enough proof here to let Naruto break that stupid contract._' The pineapple-haired man sighed deeply as he thought of his new boss. How could anyone be so computer-illiterate in this day and age? Sure, not everyone knew the difference between a hard disk and a diode, but to not know anything past how to turn on the machine and use a few programs? This was completely unacceptable; he'd have to force the man into taking courses once he was officially contracted with them.

Shikamaru quickly cut off that line of thought before he lost his focus completely. He was getting tired and before he called it a night, he had to make this secure again somehow without breaking contracted rules. He picked up the document from his desk and thumbed through it quickly, his mind still wandering on the hacking timeline.

It had started off as nothing more than updates to the security program that allowed them more access to the file system. It had eventually escalated to activating the built-in webcams in all the monitors on various 'update nights' and the copying and stealing of random files. Connecting through proxies and taking _specific_ files had only started happening a month or so ago. He paused a moment while reading a specific passage in the contract and groaned, wondering if Naruto had been lobotomized.

How could anyone willingly sign a contract that allowed another company to have free reign over their property? It was like handing a complete stranger the keys to your Viper and telling them they could drive it whenever they wanted.

'_Troublesome idiot,'_ he repeated over and over inside his head as he continued to see his boss's short-comings while digging through his copy of the contract to make sure he was within the guidelines. Putting down the lump of worn sheets, he wondered why anyone would want to steal landscaping plans. There had to be more to this than he could see right now, but the contract was getting in his way.

He glanced down at his watch and winced when he realized how long he'd been sitting in front of his computer working on this project. _'Nearly noon, I need to eat.'_ He listened for Kiba, but he was still on the phone. They still needed to put a comprehensive report together for Naruto.

"I can't go get you." Kiba tried to keep from smiling, but he couldn't help it while imagining Naruto freezing in his car begging for a ride.

"Why not?" the blonde asked irritably.

"Because this is far too amusing." Kiba cracked up again. Naruto snorted in annoyance.

"Fuck off, you asshole. Come get me!" he nearly shouted this time. He really didn't want to go back inside the house and get his keys; he'd rather freeze to death.

"Call Sakura. She's closer to the Hyuuga's then me."

"No, she's going to be asking me a ton of questions if I get her to pick me up." Kiba started to laugh again. "This is entirely your fault, you bastard," Naruto continued.

"How is this my fault?" he sobered up quickly at the accusations, the smirk never leaving his lips.

"You told me to ask her what was up," he pouted. Kiba shook his head.

"Why on earth would you ever listen to me?" Naruto sighed, another point to Kiba.

"Fine, I'll call Sakura. I'll be in the office later to come get some clothes." He flipped the phone off, cutting the irritating barks of laughter from his partner, and wished some unpleasant accidents to befall him while he dialled Sakura's number.

* * *

The tanned man wearing a headband sat across the desk from his silver-haired boss with a bored expression. Kabuto narrowed his eyes as the technician continued to chew what he called homemade gum. To his disgust, it was a sticky and stringy substance that reminded him of spider webs.

"How far will this set the plan back, Kidomaru?"

He gave a slight shrug as he answered. "It shouldn't be too bad. Once the twins finish rewiring the server room, we should be back up and running." He blew one white bubble between his lips until it made a loud pop sound before continuing, irking Kabuto further.

"Though I'm curious as to how we're going to carry out the full plan if we don't have ready access to Rasengan Landscaping's recent plans?" His boss waved away the concern airily.

"I've already sent Tayuya and Jirobo to see if they can re-establish the connection from that end." Kidomaru raised a brow, not entirely surprised that Kabuto had already taken measures to fix the problem. "I expect for them to have it up by the end of the day and we should be back in business as soon as those two finish repairing the damage Tayuya caused."

Kidomaru gave a quick nod. "The real issue is this guy that's attacking our network. If he had been trying to do real harm instead of just trying to get data out, he could have really screwed us."

Kabuto held his chin in thought for a moment before nodding sharply. "Once you get Rasengan Landscaping back on the network, get the full team together and track this guy down. I want him neutralized by the end of the week, understood?"

Kidomaru gave an affirmative grunt as he stood, knowing he was being dismissed. He walked towards the door, but stopped halfway there and turned back to the silver-haired man in the business suit, "You wanna remind me why we're doing all this again? Seems kinda lame piggy backing off this company to get to the real prize."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses with a smirk before he answered. "Like the corsairs of France, we are the merely the hired hands to the king who seeks his rightful place." He stated, Kidomaru gave him a questionable stare that only amused Kabuto. "We must destroy those who support the false 'king' before we can move in for the kill."

The tanned man snorted as he turned back towards the door. "Yarr..." he muttered sarcastically under his breath as he closed the threshold behind him.

* * *

A white van bearing a golden YK symbol pulled up in front of Rasengan Landscaping and parked in one of the reserved spots near the front of the lot. Two figures exited the vehicle, went around to the back and retrieved a toolbox and a bundle of cable before slamming the doors shut. They quickly made their way to the front door and crossed the lobby towards the security desk.

The bored looking guard put down his magazine and focused on the odd pair in front of him. "Can I help you gentlemen with something today?" he asked before he broke into a wheezing cough.

"Yes, we're from Yakushi Technologies and we've got a work order to take a look at the servers," Jirobo stated as he handed the sickly looking guard a clipboard. "Apparently, the security update never happened on your system and we've been unable to connect from our end to manually install it, so they sent us here to see what the problem was."

The man looked down at the clipboard before checking his own digital list of scheduled visitors for the day. When he noticed "Yakushi Technologies" marked with 'Contact Kiba immediately' as one of them, he turned his attention back to the duo. "I'm sorry sir, but you're not scheduled," he lied expertly. He was a little suspicious of the duo; something seemed a little off. "I'll have to call upstairs to see what they want to do."

Thinking nothing of the issue, the hefty technician smiled amiably and gave a nod. "No problem. We'll wait while you get confirmation." He hefted the cable off of his shoulder and placed it on the ground.

The woman lugging the toolbox turned away from the desk and grumbled irritably under her breath, causing the guard to give her a questioning glance that she failed to see. Jirobo noticed this and intervened before the man could ask.

"She's had a bad day," he explained as a apologetic smile graced his lips. "A virus has been giving all of us trouble, which is why we're so concerned about getting this update installed."

Hayate gave a nod and picked up the phone to call the boss.

"Yeah, that's good Shika. I'm pretty sure even a toddler could understand that," commented the dog owner with a grin. The tech gave a sigh of relief and sank back in the comfortable lopsided chair in Naruto's office.

"Good. I was beginning to worry that it would be impossible." Kiba snorted his agreement and reached down lazily to pet the huge dog lying next to his chair. It was coming up past lunch time and he'd gotten zero sleep the night before because of all the craziness.

Just as Kiba was contemplating making a suggestion for a nap break, the phone on his desk rang. Barely moving his head, he glanced at the readout and saw that it was the front desk. Grumbling, he sat up and removed it from the receiver. "What's up, Hayate?"

"Mr. Inuzuka? Where's Mr. Uzumaki today?" the voice on the end of the line said. Kiba sighed.

"I thought we told you to call us by our first names? Naruto's going to be gone for a time taking care of a major contract."

The guard merely coughed in response as he eyed the two across the lobby. "Normally I would refer to you as such, but we have visitors down at the front desk and I didn't think it would be wise," he replied in a quite hushed tone that seemed rather suspicious to Kiba.

"A couple of technicians from Yakushi Technologies wanting to see the server room and considering the warning left next to the company name," he stopped looking when one of the technicians looked towards him from where he was seated, "I thought it would be best I called. You know anything about that?"

Kiba's fatigue disappeared as he sat up straight in the chair. "Did they say _why_ they wanted to see it?" he asked seriously. Hayate caught the change in tone and eyed Jirobo and Tayuya again.

"Something about a security update that failed to install?"

Kiba let out a low growl that had Akamaru looking up at his master. "Security updates my ass." He motioned to Shikamaru to stay quiet and to pay attention. "Listen up. Those technicians don't go past the lobby. Stall for time while I get some things ready up here." Shikamaru raised a brow in curiosity while Kiba pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Tell them I'll be down to meet them shortly. Oh, and call the two other guards from upstairs… Izumo and Kotetsu. I'm going to need them for a set-up."

"Will do, boss. See you in a few," he said as he hung up and turned to Jirobo and Tayuya.

"Mr. Inuzuka will see you personally as soon as he finishes up with some business." The two techs nodded and didn't ask why it wasn't Naruto meeting them.

* * *

Sakura stared at Naruto while he hopped into her overly pink beetle. He hated this car, it was so… god damned girly.

"So, let me get this straight." He tried to glare at her, but he couldn't do it seriously in his boxers with his teeth clattering from the cold air. She grinned as she heard him groan, "You're too chicken-shit to man up and get your keys after arguing with Hinata over…?"

"Ugh…" He was going to have to tell her everything. He wasn't looking forward to that, not one bit.

"Come on, you need to tell me if you want me to get you some clothes." She smirked. He hated his life, so much. That gleam in her eye only meant trouble and he knew Ino was going to know everything by supper. He had to give in.

"Start driving. I'll tell you everything and you need to make sure you keep both hands on the wheel." He pointed at her hands while making his point. She put the Beetle in reverse and started to laugh.

"You think I'm going to beat you?" She noted a car that stopped at the end of the driveway to let her by. She didn't recognize the driver since they were wearing shades and the windows were quite dark. She eyed her ex as he sighed again, his head drooped in defeat.

"You might," he meekly responded. She raised a brow and shook her head, wondering just what the hell he did to be in this situation.

* * *

Hanabi watched the pink car drive away with Naruto in the passenger seat. She narrowed her eyes and frowned, wondering why the blonde was shivering and so poorly dressed. She looked up towards her sister's house and sighed, contemplating if it was something that was fixable. Naruto looked absolutely miserable and worried.

She pulled into the driveway, climbed out of her car and took in a deep breath. She had to break the news to her sister that their father was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and that she needed to sign some paperwork while he was still lucid.

She made her way to the front door and debated in knocking, but decided she wanted to surprise her older sister. She pushed the door open and was a bit surprised to hear nothing, but a soft sob in the darkness of the hallway. She quickly made her way through and stopped a moment, noticing half of Hinata's orange ottoman sticking out of the guest room.

She wasn't one to question her sister's odd habits, so she ignored it and knocked on her sister's bedroom door.

* * *

"If they sent techs, then they're probably the same ones that I had that skirmish with earlier," commented Shikamaru as he walked side by side with Kiba towards the security room. "If I can get a good look at their faces, I can figure out exactly who I'm dealing with." Kiba tossed a light wind breaker on without breaking his stride.

"Good. The more we have on these guys, the better." He looked around for his mutt, but it wasn't following him. "I've got Kotetsu and Izumo downstairs getting your plan ready. I don't intend to let them anywhere near our system again," he growled. Coming to an abrupt halt, he turned to his genius friend with a frown. "You'll be okay operating the cameras, right?"

Shikamaru scoffed with a smirk. "I think I can handle myself, Kiba. You just worry about getting those technicians out of here." Kiba gave a feral grin and whistled for his dog.

"I've got it easy. For once, I'm actually glad for that damned contract." Akamaru appeared from Naruto's office while Kiba zipped up the jacket halfway. "You want fish for lunch? I'm running by the Japanese take-out place and grabbing some teriyaki and rice for myself."

The lazy man shrugged and unlocked the security room with the key Kiba had given him and stepped inside. "Sounds good, just make sure it's not that smelly fish. Something about it rubs me the wrong way." Kiba made a disgusted sound and nodded his head. Before the door could close, the dog owner caught it with his foot and stuck his head inside.

"Hey Shika? Thanks for all this on the down-low man." He grinned, "As soon as we deal with all this, Naruto will hire on your company for our IT support," he added in confirmation.

Shikamaru smirked. "Nara Corporate Solutions is all about working in the _shadows_." For some odd reason, Kiba couldn't help but laugh at the company motto.

* * *

There was nothing confidence inspiring about the situation as Sakura slowed down and pulled onto the highway shoulder; the way her fist gripped the steering wheel, the odd growl vibrating in her throat and the twitch in her brow.

"N-n-now, Sakura." Naruto could feel the killing intent seeping out of her pores. Her face was hidden by her vibrant pink hair, but his fear was apparent; translucent even, as he would later describe to his grand-children.

"You…" she said in a low threatening tone he had no intentions of ignoring. He quickly calculated how fast he could get to his home half naked and bare footed from here, but he was sure Sakura would find a way to run him down several times before getting there.

"I-I-I d-didn't-t-t mean to!" he stuttered out, his heart beat was out of control. He could have sworn he heard the wheel snap under her fists. He'd done it now.

"You fucking shoved her off?" she yelled. Loudly. To the point his ears were ringing mercilessly. He crouched into himself, waiting for the onslaught of punches, but they never came. She continued to glare that evil stare that made his skin crawl in fear.

"She kissed me out of the blue!" he tried to defend, but she wouldn't hear any of it. She threw the car back in gear and peeled out of the parked spot, muttering things that she would do to him once she got home. He blanched and prayed to whatever god that was sympathetic to his cause.

"I can't _believe_ you," she ranted. "I should drive you right back there, march you in and throw you in front of her, begging for her forgiveness, you ass," she seethed. He cringed, knowing full well she wasn't joking.

"Please don't, I need time to-" She shot him another glare that forced him to gulp. The car swerved and she swore under her breath again.

"Every one of you! All the fucking same." He felt completely defeated. "You need to man-up, Naruto. She's not something you should throw aside," she spat out. The sting of her words hit both of them. She herself had been used and thrown away and in-turn, she had used and thrown aside Naruto. The cycle continued.

Not if she had any say in the matter!

"I'm not going to do that… I'm just not sure if she's-" he struggled a moment on how to explain it without it coming out the wrong way.

"I just want to make sure it's her that wants this, and not her memories," he mumbled out, embarrassed a little at the admission. Sakura looked away from the road a moment in shock at the blonde's confession.

"You like her?" She was a bit uncomfortable with the discussion considering that she still fiercely loved him, but they had agreed a long time ago that they were not a good fit. No matter how much they wanted to be together.

"Yeah, I think I do." He shivered, reached over and turned up the heat. "But I fucked up major." He leaned his head against the window pane and stared at the glove compartment. His thoughts wandered back to Hinata's crying face and the void of emotion in her eyes as the fight ended.

How was he going to drag her out of that wall again. He'd managed to get really close this one time, but completely screwed up. Sakura heard him sigh; his finger drew an endless circle on the pane. He was so pathetic.

"You're pathetic." He shot her a dirty look without lifting his head from the pane. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "If she's figuring out her feelings, there's no way you could have screwed up that bad," she chastised softly. Her heart was going out to him, this was where they split apart, and she was going to be a memory for him.

"I don't know, something about the way she ended the argument," he reminisced. "She bowed to me." Sakura raised a brow and pressed her lips together.

"Her voice had no emotions, her eyes were completely…" He couldn't even finish his sentence. There was an ache in his chest when he thought about her eyes. He needed to get her back, needed to have her laughing again.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out, Naruto."

They drove in silence until they reached Sakura's apartment.

* * *

Hanabi stared at the lump her sister represented. She wasn't impressed.

"Get dressed. Father is requesting your presence." She kicked her sister's foot and Hinata only ignored her. She was positive she saw the older girl blink, so there was no way she was dead. Her skin looked abused, it was red and puffy, her hair was a complete mess and she was still dressed in her pyjamas.

"What happened? I saw Naruto leave with Sakura." This question seemed to have stir life back into the heiress.

"Sakura?" she asked meekly, her voice raw from all her crying. Hanabi raised a brow, wondering what had her sister in such a mess.

"Yes, she picked him up. In his boxers, mind you." She narrowed her eyes as Hinata sat up from her position on the floor. She had laid down after sliding down the door. Her sister had forcibly pushed her away when she entered her room. Hinata brought her hands to her face and rubbed in frustration.

'_Of course he'd call her, she's the love of his life,_' she thought jealously before being able to shake the feeling away. She had no business being jealous; she was not worthy of him, of his sunshine or his nectar. She sighed and Hanabi shook her head.

"What happened?" she asked again, slightly amused that her sister seemed to have completely lost control on the situation. She'd have to thank Neji later for this devilish plan. Hinata eyed her younger sister and repressed the urge to hit a few disabling pressure points she could reach. That smirk meant something was going as planned.

She hated her siblings.

"Why does father need to see me?" she casually asked, uninterested. Since her father had been diagnosed with early Alzheimer's, he'd kept himself in isolation, only seeing Neji to sign documentation.

"He's not doing very well," the younger Hyuuga replied while she watched her sister strip off the pyjama and pick more suitable clothing for the meeting. Not quite formal, not quite casual. She had great taste in clothes.

"How so?"

"He's having a lot of emotional lapses and it's worrisome."

"Emotional lapses?" Hinata almost laughed. Her father was the biggest emotional-retard she had ever the displeasure of being exposed to since her accident. Although she sympathized with him a little, she was also suffering from emotional lapses.

"Yes, he's affected more so in that aspect then in memory." She looked away from her sister and looked around her room, it was quaint, cozy and somehow it was ridiculously messy. "It sort of reminds me of that Bendii Syndrome."

"The what?" her elder sister asked, genuinely confused.

"Never mind." Hanabi shook her head. She'd forgotten her sister had lived under a rock and never watched Star Trek. Hinata shrugged and pulled the sweater over her head, walked over to her desk and picked up her brush. She looked at her face in the mirror and sighed; she was puffy and unattractive.

"That still doesn't answer my original question." She eyed her sister from the reflection of the mirror, Hanabi almost looked sad.

"He's been asking for you." She looked away from Hinata and considered making the bed. "He's been thinking a lot about our mother."

Hinata froze a moment in mid stroke, her gaze questioning her sister for more information. Hanabi walked over to the bed and shook the blankets free from their tangles, smoothing out the wrinkles as she laid out the sheets.

"He's been lost in the past; asking where you are, where our mother is and he won't stop apologizing." Her voice wavered a little by the end. It was sad to see her father's strong independent mind get eaten by such a cruel disease.

"Apologizing?" her sister asked again, her voice was laced with worry. Hanabi only nodded as she laid down the heavier blankets, the goose feather duvet fluffed to a more respectable state.

"Yes, I would rather not tell you more, sister." She turned towards Hinata, who was wrapping her long tresses in a constricting bun. She hated that bun, but her sister wouldn't change the habit.

"Ok, I will meet with him and see what the problem is." Hanabi gave her a small smile that confused Hinata.

'_I think you'll be saddened by what he has to say, sister,_' was the last thought the youngest Hyuuga had before she followed Hinata out of the front door.

* * *

"Okay, one last check; you both know the plan, right?" Kiba asked Kotetsu and Izumo.

The shorter of the two men sighed and fidgeted slightly in the unfamiliar clothing he was wearing. Kotetsu still wore the bandage over the bridge of his nose like usual, but he'd changed out of his security uniform and into one of Naruto's spare sets of clothes along with his partner's bandana at Kiba's behest.

"Yeah, sure thing boss. Got it right and tight," he said evenly. "What I _don't_ know is why I got picked to be the one in handcuffs," he grumbled as he held up his bound wrists in front of him.

Kiba blinked at the man in amazement while Izumo stifled a chuckle from behind Kotetsu. Crossing his arms across his chest, he grinned slightly and spoke as if to a child.

"Why Kotetsu, isn't it obvious? It's because you fit the bill! After all, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…" he let the axiom drift off while the bound man's partner in crime finally let out a guffaw. Kotetsu sighed with resignation and frustration.

"Are you comparing me to a duck, Kiba?" His superior slapped him heartily on the shoulder while keeping his grin in place.

"Of course not, Kotetsu! Why are you even complaining anyway? You're getting paid for this on top of a free lunch," the dog owner commented while Akamaru woofed in agreement, causing the usually carefree man to groan in defeat.

The guard turned actor looked back at his friend and rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with. Oh, and if you tell Naruto what I did, you're going to fucking regret it," he threatened.

Izumo just laughed and started to push him towards the door leading to the lobby. "Yeah, yeah. Save all those menacing glares for our guests, eh?"

"What the hell is taking this guy so damn long?" Tayuya grumbled to the large man sitting next to her. Jirobo shook his head, but didn't bother to chastise her on her language.

"Who knows?" he said with a hint of exasperation. He was getting a little irked with her behaviour.

A few more seconds passed before the red head got to her feet and began pacing the lobby impatiently. Hayate watched the foul-mouthed woman with veiled amusement as he waited for Kiba to finally come down from whatever it was that he was doing. He hoped it was soon; he didn't think the fiery red head would be able to hold her temper in check much longer.

As if answering his prayers, the side door leading to the lobby opened to reveal Kiba and his huge white dog Akamaru. Tayuya spun on her heel and faced the acting president with annoyance.

"About fucking time…" the guard heard her mumble under her breath. Jirobo got to his feet and began walking towards Kiba with a professional smile on his face.

"Mr. Inuzuka I presume?" he asked. A very annoyed looking Kiba gave a curt nod and offered his hand to the technician.

"That's correct. I apologize for making you wait for so long…" Kiba glanced down at the nametag on the uniform the man wore "Jirobo, but I had to finish dealing with a vandal. I'm really not surprised to see you guys here right now considering what happened. How'd you find out about the damage so quickly?" he asked, managing to keep a professional expression on his face despite his apathy for the people standing in front of him. Hayate gave his boss a strange look behind their guests' backs since he _knew_ that Kiba had caused that damage himself.

Jirobo looked confused, but it was Tayuya that spoke first. "What the hell are you talking about?" Kiba gave her a genuinely surprised look before glancing back towards her co-worker.

"You didn't know? Well, I guess I'll fill you in," he said as the side door opened once more, causing Kiba to turn back. "Ah… here's the culprit now." From the doorway stumbled Kotetsu as he was pushed by Izumo, followed closely by Shikamaru holding a pair of tapes and wearing Kotetsu's uniform with his normal bored expression.

"Hey you ass! Quit pushing!" exclaimed the bound man with a scowl. Izumo looked unimpressed as he grabbed the other man by the arm and lead him towards the front doors.

"Shut it. Being pushed around is the least of your worries where you're going. I don't know where in the 'prison bitch' hierarchy vandals are, but I'm pretty sure it's not the top," he said with a laugh as he pushed open the double doors and took him outside.

Tayuya and Jirobo turned back to Kiba with renewed curiosity. "What happened?" asked the stout man. Kiba ignored the question and turned to Shikamaru, who'd walked up next to his friend instead of following the others out, and took one of the tapes he was holding.

"This the one we were gonna take to Y.T. after we took him to the station?" he asked. Shikamaru only nodded in response before turning towards the elevator, not sparing the two technicians a second glance. He'd already memorized their faces. Kiba held the tape out to Jirobo and began explaining.

"Early this morning, that man you just saw, broke into our server room and took an axe to the main server line." The larger man raised a brow and tried not to laugh. His partner narrowed her eyes, knowing full well he was laughing at her. Kiba missed the quiet communication as he swept his hand towards the man being handled roughly into his car. "This tape is a copy of the security camera feed from that room that we were going to bring to you so that you could have it for your records since the servers fall under your aegis." Jirobo took the tape and examined it momentarily before focusing on the other man again. Kiba grimaced and continued.

"Unfortunately, I can't allow you to enter the room until the police can do a full investigation, so I'm sorry to say that your trip out here was in vain."

Jirobo gave a nod and a smile. "I understand completely. I'll be sure to pass this along to my boss along with the situation." He offered his hand for another handshake, which Kiba gave quickly. "I appreciate your time Mr. Inuzuka. Just give us a call whenever the police clear the room and we'll have your servers back up in no time." Giving a short farewell to the other man, he shot Tayuya a look that clearly told her to keep her comments to herself and leave quickly.

Hayate blinked as the crowd of people left his lobby empty. He was confused to say the least and he'd been left _completely_ out of the loop.

"Just another day, at Rasengan Landscape." he mumbled before sitting down and picking up his paper again.

* * *

o.O R&R if you want~


	9. Secrets of the Sun

**A small crack in perfection**_  
By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:_  
I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN**– Hurray chapter nine! I know, I know; took me long enough! Even I was annoyed with my laziness. Plus, I was busy writing porn for Clones. Yes, there's more stories incoming with bunnies multiplying. Enjoy :P

Thank you _Juopunumies _and_ Perpetual159 _for the beta, I appreciate it. _Jolly Green_ is still my beta but he needs time off due to personal problems. My thoughts are with you – hope to see you back in the game soon!

* * *

**Chapter 9**  
_Secrets of the Sun_

Naruto flicked absent-mindedly through the radio stations, desperately wishing for the mix CD forgotten in his car. His gaze wandered from the dashboard to the bridge railing as his thoughts filtered out the unwelcomed silence. In a single week, Hinata had thrown his life into complete chaos.

Scratch that.

She'd managed to completely make him question his _sanity_.

He sighed and leaned back against the seat as Sakura turned off the ramp, giving up on his search for a good tune. He couldn't decide if it was the combination of his turbulent feelings with his indecisiveness, or the general _good-for-nothing_ sense of dread that was filling his stomach with a solid lump of lead.

He closed his eyes, listening to the radio host he'd picked to break the accusing silence blabber on about god-knows what. Blowing the air out of his cheeks in defeat, he felt irritated at the small pang of guilt eating at his conscience._ 'Would she even let me back into the house?'_ he wondered.

Then, it suddenly occurred to him. There was a small important detail he had entirely missed; a loop hole in his mistake: he'd left the guest room in complete chaos. It helped to note that the ottoman was halfway out of the guest room door entirely in the way. He could personally attest that it was definitely too heavy for her to drag back to the living room alone.

'_Good,'_ he thought, '_I won't need an excuse with things this miserable.' _He felt rejuvenated, even if things were looking excessively bleak for him.

Sakura suppressed the urge to reach over and pat him in comfort. He was completely miserable and her speech on how _retarded_ he was didn't help the situation. He straightened up a little and she saw the usual twinkle return to his eyes. She imagined he was talking himself back into his usual unrelenting fighting spirit. _'What a relief.'_ At least he had found the light at the end of this dreadful tunnel.

After all the progress Naruto had made with pulling her out of her shell, it was a _terrible_ set-back to shove her away like that. She could understand why it had happened, surprising him in such a way mid-argument, but, _still_, it was a blow to the careful balance between her personas.

They both sighed at the same time. Naruto glanced at her and she smiled despite the bad mood hanging between them. She turned right onto a smaller alleyway; the pink beetle made its way up her drive way, slowed and pulled into her reserved parking spot.

She flicked her wrist to shut down the car and paused, the keys jingled momentarily as she folded her hands neatly on her lap. She ignored the press of the metal in her palm as she gave him an attentive glance; Naruto looked her way with a certain sadness she hadn't seen in quite some time. He was really heart-broken over this; she felt an odd pang as her own heart squeezed in sympathy.

She gave him a reassuring smile that he didn't have the courage to reciprocate. His pride was bruised, his confidence had faltered and darkness had lodged itself inside him, keeping him from being able to overcome this.

He grumbled loudly, startling her out of her thoughts a moment as she was in the process of escaping the cab of her car. She tried to catch his attention but he was too busy staring at the space between him and the building. He cringed and his toes wiggled in concern with the thought of the cold unforgiving asphalt meeting his tender naked flesh. He was positive it was mocking him, quietly laughing at his predicament.

"I could lend you my shoes." She grinned, pointing to the back seat. He did a mental '_hurray_' as he twisted himself around and reached for her gym bag. It didn't occur to him for a second that he should have known better than to trust his former lover in helping him out.

"You can choose between baby pink or dark red," she chimed. He groaned as he pulled out a pair of high heels. He dug around the bag, but he knew it was futile; there would be no slippers or sneakers there.

"I hate you," she heard him say before she slammed her door shut. She shrugged and giggled as he seriously considered putting them on. He threw them back in the bag, knowing full well he'd never live it down. He wasn't willing to put up with Sakura's taunting and humiliation just to save his toes.

He squint his eyes, mumbled something miserable to befall his stupidity and quickly hopped out of the car, bee-lining for the entrance. The coldness of the ground bit at the thickened flesh mercilessly. He counted the steps to salvation, but when he reached the glass doorway, he was met with a solid _'thunk'_ of the lock meeting frame. He clenched his teeth and ignored Sakura's mocking giggle as she took her sweet time to get to him.

"Hurry the hell up!" he shouted, hoping from one foot to the other. She shook her head and ignored his obvious irritated tone. She decided right then she needed to fix her slipping sock, readjust her pants, dig out her keys, and check her texts for good measure. She grinned when he made some choking angered sound, his arms waving agitatedly.

She glanced at him casually and checked her nails, noting the slight chipping of her index paint, before resuming her slow steps towards the man who deserved every bit of torture she was handing to him on behalf of Hinata.

'_Thank me later, missy_,' she thought, smirking to herself.

"What's taking so long? For Pete's sake, I'm freezing my ass off." He could have sworn he saw his breath in the mid afternoon crisp air, but chose to ignore his hallucination and instead focused his irritation towards his turtle of a friend.

"It's not my problem you strolled out of there in your boxers, a nasty shirt and nothing else." She tried to not giggle, but the amused tone slipped out, making him narrow his eyes. He was on to her and her devilish tricks to make him suffer.

His hand hit his chest before he glanced down and groaned, his blue eyes rolled up into his head and he sighed dejectedly. He hadn't changed shirts yet and Hinata's mess was still caked and flaking in masses off his chest.

'_Fan-fucking-tastic_.'

* * *

"Are you going to tell me what exactly happened between you and Uzumaki?" Hanabi broke the awkward silence between the two as they waited for the elevator. Hinata resisted the urge to sigh, but her stiff reaction hadn't gone unnoticed. Her younger sister smirked silently; it seemed that Hinata had finally lost some of her control and was rather annoyed with her current situation.

"I do not think this is the appropriate time to be speaking about my personal problems," Hinata replied with what she thought was a controlled response, but it had come out all wrong. Hanabi blinked as she processed the highly annoyed, irritable _please, could you kindly fuck off _tone her sister had flicked her way.

Hanabi burst out laughing, making her sister glare and cross her arms in irritation. She made a small _hmph_ sound before the elevator doors opened up and invited the siblings up to see their ailing father. Hinata stepped inside and pressed the correct floor and quickly mashed the button that would force the doors closed before her younger sister recovered from her fit.

It didn't work.

Hanabi had her hand out between the opened doors to prevent them from closing. Hinata narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together. She was getting tired of people laughing at her expense; she wasn't sure what the joke was, but she was sick of being at the end of it.

"Stop laughing and get inside," she demanded, which only made her sister laugh harder and lean against the doorway, clutching her stomach. Hinata was slightly confused and was tempted to shove her sister out of the way so the damned elevator could go up and she could get this conversation over with. She came to the obvious conclusion that it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought, considering how proficient her sister was in the arts of trickery.

"What's so funny?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation; the laughter was becoming infectious. She was trying really hard not to smile, but her sister was now at the point where she was barely making a sound, gasping for air and sliding down the metal door.

This was _ridiculous_.

"What is so funny?" she asked again and, this time, her smile betrayed her and she slipped out a giggle. Soon she joined her sister into the fit of laughter, still not quite sure of the reason.

* * *

Naruto cringed as he peeled off his shirt; he sighed and wondered absently what _she_ was up to. In the dim lights of Sakura's bedroom, he glimpsed at himself in the full closet mirror doors and, without quite realising it, recalled Hinata's sleeping form against his chest.

He could see the outline of her face, the feel of her warmth against his skin, how her fingers had slipped into the crease of his arm while she embraced him. He subconsciously squeezed down against the ghostly memory. He couldn't prevent the racing goosebumps across his arms when he remembered how her breath had fluttered against his skin; he flushed a little and his lips tingled at the memory of the unexpected, and awkward, kiss.

He sighed, groaned even, as he remembered the very feminine sounds that slipped out of her lips while she slept against him. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his head between his hands as he tried to ignore the lingering warmth from her, tried to forget the obstinate memory caused by the feel of her breasts pressed against him, but, it was too late. His thoughts had wandered off down a path he hadn't been on in a very long time.

He thought about her blush, how it dusted her cheeks and the slight stutter that would come out when she was nervous, _especially_ around him. It was endearing and he imagined that it would be an entire different scenario under the right circumstances. There was no denying it - he enjoyed indulging himself shamelessly in those little scenarios.

He smirked; he especially liked the one where her blush had turned into a flush that crawled slowly down her neck and that stutter turned into something more primal, a sound that was much more needy and completely out of control. He couldn't help it; when he thought about her eyes in those situations, how he would crack her perfection, he felt a certain part of his body twitch in anticipation. He wanted her to let go, indulge herself in the feel of spontaneity and relish in the feel of sin.

This was a fairly new development for this relationship, if he could call it that. He had to admit that knowing before-hand that she used to crush on him has given him an unfair advantage, but it also sort of prepared him for this, maybe even instigated his own interest in the Heiress.

She was haunting him, rooting her essence inside his mind, and he was beginning to accept her invasion. In fact, he was enjoying it _too_ much, it seemed, as he felt a certain twitch inside his boxers. He groaned again; he hadn't thought about another woman like that in years and he was positive it was because of this room. The mirrors were feeding the fantasies and he needed to get out of here or he'd start picturing what Hinata's creamy thighs looked like spread around his waist, the feel of her around him, clutching his shoulders and how their bodies looked like fucking the hell out of each other.

Maybe he should get the same mirrors on the closet at his house...

"Blech." He looked away from the fantasy inducing object and stood up, pushing away the smutty thoughts unwillingly as he tried to calm himself down. Funny how that sneak attack kiss had completely forced him to look at Hinata in a new light. A few days ago he couldn't stop thinking about how to break her shell; now all he wanted to do was split her open in the most primal way and hear her voice call his name at the top of her lungs

He was _entirely_ hopeless and was discovering, unfortunately, that he was the kind of pervert his godfather would have been proud of.

How did he go from genuine curiosity to closet pervert in the span of a week? He had to agree with his inner-pervert that his temptations for the woman's body were moving too fast, even for him. He felt like a sixteen-year-old lusting after the forbidden fruit, it was highly unusual for him to be this... _infatuated_... after such a short amount of time.

Maybe he'd repressed old feelings for her from when they were children? He _did_ spend quite a bit of time with her, so it wouldn't be unusual for him to have liked her then. He had just been too young and stupid to connect the feelings of admiration to liking her.

Probably why Jiraiya always tortured him and called her _his_ girl.

Naruto paused a moment, his fingers flicking through the yellow hair to fix the stubborn spikes as he thought about his godfather and all the times he'd mention something about Hinata.

'_Maybe I was a lot more transparent than I thought.'_

One thing was for sure: he was driving the bus to hell and there was no coming back, since he'd busted the GPS, killed the driver and the map was soaked in blood. He gave himself a hard look, a solid 'talking-to', in his mind, and reprimanded himself with another glare for not being able to figure out how to apologize sincerely and get her to open up to him again.

But how?

Maybe he shouldn't have run off like that and comforted her instead?

Then again, what comforts _crazy_?

"Question of the year," he mumbled as he pulled a clean shirt over his head he had found in Sakura's closet a little earlier. He opened up the wicker basket and threw the shirt in with Sakura's dirty laundry; he peeked in out of habit and rolled his eyes.

Pink everything as always; old habits die hard.

He made his way out of her bedroom and silently stalked the hallway towards the living room. He could hear the sounds of _Wheel of Fortune_ belting out of the television and he had to smile a little. It was Sakura's favourite show.

"You want to remind me why you keep my clothes in your room?" he asked. She glanced his way and refused to answer him, busy munching the re-heated leftover rice from last night's dinner. He plopped down next to her on the couch and let his head roll against the back of the seat, landing on her shoulder. She shrugged him off, irritated at his unwanted invasion.

"Well?" He was watching her; she could tell he was making fun of her.

"If you'd stop throwing your shit in my laundry hamper every fucking time you slept in the guest room," she started, bits of rice flying out of her mouth when she made the 'f' in her words, "I wouldn't wash them and throw them in my closet out of pure laziness," she huffed. He was trying really hard not to laugh but he was failing miserably.

"Now, shut up! I'm watching my show."

He smirked, amused at irritating her for once while she was concentrating on something. He started to reach for his phone—that would usually be sitting in his shirt pocket—but he was struck with two things: this was an old t-shirt with no pockets and his phone was currently keeping his keys company on his draft table, at Hinata's.

'_What about the spare?'_ one would ask.

Oh, that one's on the passenger seat of his car, sitting in Hinata's driveway.

_Great_.

"I need to use your phone." Sakura quirked a brow at him and rolled her eyes before taking her phone out of her pants' pocket and threw it at him before going back to her _Wheel of Fortune_.

* * *

Hiashi watched as his daughters entered the loft he'd closed himself into over the last few weeks. His disease had quickly deteriorated his mind; he found it a little ironic that he was afflicted with something that stole his memories while he had worked so diligently to prevent Hinata from remembering her own past.

He had much to speak of with his daughter. Neji had convinced him to tell the truth, tell her why he'd refused to let her remember her old self; maybe this would even allow her to grieve for a mother she'd forgotten.

Before he'd forget why he had in the first place.

Hinata made her way through the small loft; the light that filtered in gave the place a sense of warmth that she knew did not exist. '_Even the sun lies for you,'_ she thought as she noticed her father sitting in the living room. It was eerily quiet despite the comforting mumble of the radio host. She hadn't seen him in several weeks; she hated to admit it, but in all honesty, she had practically been avoiding him. He wasn't a pleasant man, almost cruel at times, and her past was filled with memories of his stern teachings. His disappointment in her was something he often became very vocal about if she could rely on the trickles of memory that seeped in every once in a while.

She had questions in regards to when she woke in the hospital, such as why he had decided to re-create her into something cold, uncaring and forcing her to forget her mother, her friends, her past.

Her love.

Hanabi turned towards the kitchen, disappearing through the doors. Hinata heard running water and the sharp sound of metal against metal; her sister was making their father's tea while making herself scarce. She knew the conversation was going to be unpleasant and she needed to get things ready for the onslaught of tears, shouting and, most likely, her father getting his ass kicked by his eldest.

Hinata noticed papers strewn around the living room; it was messy so she assumed that Neji had just left for a while. She approached her father quietly, but loud enough to announce her presence. She wasn't sure if he was awake or asleep, his face was impassive, eyes closed in a meditation.

"Father?" she quietly called to him, making him stir. His eyes focused on her momentarily and he gave her a soft smile. She blinked.

Her father was smiling.

At her.

She frowned.

"You called for me?" she asked, taking a seat close to him. He nodded and waited as Hanabi approached with three empty cups, placed them on the coffee table, and sat down. She poured small amounts in the cups and passed one to her father before leaning in and kissing his cheek in greeting.

Hinata frowned again; this was highly unusual.

"Yes, Hinata. There are things we need to discuss." He looked down at the brown liquid swirling slightly inside the cup.

"Such as?" She nodded to her sister, who had given her a cup as well. Hanabi winked at her, which startled Hinata even more; she was getting a little suspicious of them.

"Your mother, my actions, and your lack of memory and what will happen once I die." He took a sip of tea and glanced her way; she remained impassive, but, inside, she was suddenly terrified of what he had to say as she felt the breath of her mother's ghost blow on the back of her neck.

Needless to say, she felt the hair rise on her neck and she didn't want to turn around.

* * *

"Drop me off back at Hinata's," Naruto demanded as he followed his ex through the kitchen. Sakura raised a brow and glanced at him over her shoulder.

"Done feeling sorry for yourself?" she chirped while putting her rice bowl back into the sink. She leaned back against the counter, crossed her arms and waited for him to answer. He narrowed his eyes, annoyed with her precise predictions.

"Yeah, I have a few things to clean up."

"At the house or personally?" She smirked. He pressed his lips together, annoyed that she had his little plan figured out. At least she didn't have _everything_ figured out.

"You gonna do something lame like get her flowers?" she joked, making him sigh. Ok, she had the _whole _damned thing figured out.

"It's not lame when it has meaning," he retorted, almost depressed, "especially in the language of flowers, anyway." She rolled her eyes; she didn't know much about the language of it, but saying sorry with flowers was overdone and somewhat cliché.

Back then, when he did give her flowers in apology, he always gave her the weirdest combinations; she didn't get the meaning behind them then and she never will. Flowers were Naruto's thing.

"Fine, let's go then, you hopeless romantic." She grinned at him as he shook his head.

She was totally on to him.

* * *

Naruto stepped inside the flower shop, his keys back safely in his pocket snuggling his phone. He popped a lemon skittle and chewed it slowly; there were at least a dozen messages from Kiba, one from Konohamaru and a mocking one from Sakura he had deleted without even listening to it.

She was grating on his nerves lately, more so than usual. The shit he would normally put up with was becoming an encumbrance. Maybe it was because he had his eyes on a different prize now; his heart had moved away from the safety net of Sakura and into the turbulent love of Hinata.

It seemed she had noticed as well; she had cut out all those comments on how long it's been since they had fucked, stopped bringing up their break up and how it could have been, how things were and how awful it was. She was quite silent on the subject of him moving on, but she still seemed the same as before, if not a little bit more cautious of what she said around him.

He appreciated it, immensely, even if he knew she was a little opposed to it. Sakura took him for granted far too often and he knew she was realising that he would no longer be hers alone much longer.

He grinned at the thought of belonging to Hinata. It was an attractive offer that he would never have considered before this turbulent week. He had not been interested in relationships, being more focused on his career, but, like anything in life, when things are going smooth, there's always a bump in the road to make things interesting.

She was the most interesting bump he'd ever encountered. He glanced over the brightly coloured flowers; the deep hues almost seemed to kiss the lighter ones in a lover's caress.

'_Which ones will bring the message clearly?'_ he thought, his fingers touching the petal's flesh of a purple Hyacinth. He knitted his brow; this would not do. Although they meant to forgive, this was one of the flowers she had asked to put in her garden; it would be in bad taste to give her flowers she connected with her own sorrow.

He needed something a little unusual, since they were both a little strange and out of the ordinary. Their relationship sure reflected that so far. He made his way towards the tulips, since they weren't usually something you would give a lover. It was an iffy message, tulips in general flirted with the idea of a perfect lover and they were far from that point, but he was looking for something specific: a variegated tulip, one with purple hues.

The meaning behind the type of flowers was quite forward but he wasn't one to tiptoe around a subject for too long. Besides opening his mouth, and possibly suffering a sudden attack of Foot-in-Mouth syndrome, this was the only direct way he could think of saying 'You have beautiful eyes.' He had a strange fascination with them; what better way to say it?

Now he needed another one to let her know he was interested, but, besides the rose, there weren't many options to proclaim his desire for her. Roses were cliché and he didn't want to get them. He always found them shallow and commercialised. He'd like to think he had a little bit more depth than that!

'_Which one would show that I feel the same way?'_ he thought, looking around and racking his brain on what he could use; which was when he saw it, in the corner of the shop, hiding behind the egotistical bouquets of roses, the Jonquil.

'_Perfect!'_ Not only was this a very beautiful flower, it also meant desire. He hoped that, just like the flower's meaning, she would return his affections, or at would at least—eventually—be brave enough to openly convey her feelings for him, being that she was the one receiving the flowers from him.

Hopefully this worked.

* * *

"_I've taken something precious away from you Hinata, something I had no right to decide on my own... I... I should have listened to the doctor."_ her father's voice still resonated; echoes of the past haunted him as much as they haunted her.

"_I wanted to erase everything, from that day." _His voice didn't break, but his eyes gave his feelings away; she could see the pain there, the recognition of where his lack of reasoning had come from.

"_I needed to erase her kindness from you because I could not bear to see it. Her laughter, her smile, the way she touched everything was the same way you touched everything, even when you had no memory of anything! You were the embodiment of her memory, her legacy and I could not bear the pain of seeing my dead wife in you." _

"_I'm sorry, so sorry, Hinata..."_ her father had broken down. She hadn't said a single word to him the whole time she was there listening to him speak; hours ticked by as he went on to divulge his deepest secrets, his darkest plans and his deepest pain. She'd always thought her father to be an emotionless man, but, in the end, it turned out he was a man so _overwhelmed_ by emotion, he had to cut them away.

She sighed, her mind still processing the conversation. He didn't know that she could remember most of her past now, all the things he'd said then...

They both needed to grieve the loss of her mother. Hanabi had been too young and her father had been too shocked to allow himself to grieve. She had not been allowed to even feel the loss of her mother.

"We're here," her sister's voice drifted through the thickness of her thoughts, Hinata felt out of it, unfocused. Her fingers fumbled the door handle and she waved good-bye to her sister as she pulled away into the twilight. She pulled her jacket closer, fighting the chill of the night.

She had no tears left, she feared.

She eyed the entrance of her home, noting the few lights that were on, and wondered if Naruto had returned. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she thought about earlier—the argument over nothing, the scuffle, the sneak attack kiss, and her running away.

There was no way around it, she had run away from him and ignored him like a child when he had called her name. The fear of his rejection had taken over and it still had control over her. She made her way up the walkway. Her shaking fingers touched the metal of the knob, but they did not turn it. She was frozen there. Doubts were eating at her, fears of his reaction when he saw her and what he would say to her.

What would _she_ say to _him_?

She was still in shock at her own actions with him; she also felt slighted with him that he called Sakura to pick him up, even if she continued to remind herself she had no business being jealous.

She had no right to him; she had earned nothing to gain his favour.

She gripped the knob and pushed the door open, peeking in, her eyes following the darkening hallway and with her ears perked to any unusual sounds, but it was quiet.

'_Maybe he's gone to bed.'_ She hoped to avoid another confrontation; she was tapped out on feelings and logic. She removed her coat, hung it on the coat rack and removed her shoes. She tip-toed to her room, but stopped in her tracks mid-way.

The orange ottoman was in front of her door and, on it, was a sleeping Naruto. She narrowed her eyes in the dim light, wondering if she had to wake him so she could go to bed. Her options weren't many and all pointed to _'yes, you have to wake him.'_

'_Here goes nothing.'_

She tried the conventional ways of waking someone: a light tap, a shake of the shoulder, a kick to the foot and even calling his name lightly, but nothing was working. She resorted to shaking his shoulder and yelling his name, which finally had an effect. He stirred, blinked and frowned a little, as though he couldn't quite figure out where he was.

He focused his sleepy blue eyes on her and smiled softly, making her squint her eyes in mistrust. He straightened up in the ottoman, stretching himself out, and yawned before getting up.

"Oh good, you're finally home." He disarmed her with another grin; his sleep tussled hair was a distraction she wasn't entirely ready to deal with.

"You were waiting for me?" She perked a brow in confusion. He nodded and his fingers gently grabbed her arms, pulling her closer to him.

"Wait right here," he said, pointing his finger at her and backing up to his room, slipping inside the darkness like a thief. This was not the reaction she anticipated from him.

She expected a stern talking-to, a glare, or some angry words. Maybe even the silent treatment, but certainly not that smile that made her heart pitter-patter. He had unsettled her again without doing anything and she decided then and there that she was hopeless and completely infatuated with him.

She watched him reappear into the light, his hands hiding behind him with a lop-sided grin.

What was he up too?

"Hinata," he started, his voice holding an uncertainty that made her blink. Was he nervous? "I think we started things a little rough, this morning."

Was that a blush creeping on the flesh of his bronzed cheeks? She was seeing things.

"So, I hope we can try again, this time maybe..." He paused, trying to find better words than '_let's try again, I promise I won't shove you away in a rage this time',_ but nothing was coming to mind.

'_Great, I spent forty-five minutes working on this speech only to pass out and forget the whole thing. Brilliant, Uzumaki. Brilliant.'_ So he did the next best thing.

Hinata blinked in confusion when he trailed off and presented her with a strange combination of tulips and a jonquil. He started to blabber on about something but she couldn't quite hear him, she was captured by the meaning of the jonquil.

He desired her. She was a bit shocked.

"What...?" she whispered, interrupting Naruto's stumble of words and apologies. He looked at her, suddenly worried that she wasn't getting the meaning behind the flowers. She seemed really knowledgeable of the language, considering the careful selection she had picked for the commissioned gardens.

"I'm apologising...?" he said with uncertainty. Maybe he should back away? Her face was unreadable and he was almost positive he'd screwed up again. She tipped her head in confusion and stared at the tulip, she wasn't entirely sure of the meaning behind it since they were meant for lovers.

"I'm not quite clear with the meaning of the tulip. Could you... enlighten me?" she asked again, afraid to look at him. She glanced up quickly, but there was a blush tinting her cheeks as she took the jonquil from his hands. She understood that one clearly and he in turn suddenly grew very nervous at his own strange confession.

"Well... it means," he nearly whispered, but, wanting her to look at him, he tipped her chin towards him. Her gaze met his and she blushed; she could feel the small shake in his hand as he tried to overcome the awkwardness of this moment. She bit her lip as she waited to see what he would say.

He smiled softly which made her breath hitch. "... beautiful eyes." She blushed, hard, and felt her heart nearly tip out of her lips when he grinned that sexy smile that made her want to explore his mouth.

"I'm sorry for today, Hinata," he continued, while maintaining the hold on her chin, his eyes wandering down to her mouth, making her lick them in response, very conscious of the attention. He raised a brow and repressed the urge to smirk; was she thinking about their kiss from that morning?

"I was a bit a surprised, I didn't expect that you would do that, let alone felt that way, still." She frowned.

"What do you mean?" she breathed out. She could feel the warmth of his breath against her skin; she could tell he had eaten skittles, the yellow ones. He smelled like lemons and coffee and she relished in the feel of the little goosebumps that formed as he trailed a finger on her jaw line.

"Well, I knew you liked me when I was a kid." His gaze followed his finger. He noted the perfection of her pale skin and could see her heart beating, a little faster than before. Maybe he wasn't too late? Maybe he could fix this.

"You did?" She tried to look away, embarrassed and a little mad about the fact he knew that she was already in love with him back then.

"Yeah, and I am a little concerned about a few things." He leaned in a little while she looked away. Feeling him moving in, she backed up, out of habit, but her back hit the wall in a soft _thump._ She pressed her free hand against the barrier and swallowed.

"Concerned? About what, exactly?" She tried to gain control again, but he had moved in quite close. She could feel his body heat and she wasn't sure if it was her heart making that loud thumping noise. She looked a little startled when she felt the tickle of his breath on her neck and turned her face to look at him.

She almost fainted as a result; he was so close, their noses almost bumped into each other. She was suddenly very nervous, her heart was going out of control.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was you that wanted me," he moved in again; she could feel his breath, the murmur of his words making her lightheaded. His body grazed her sensually and she closed her eyes without realising, "or if you only liked me because of your memories." She felt a tremor crawl from the base of her back to her head, goosebumps chasing it relentlessly, making her shudder against her will.

"Do you…?" he purred out, pushing his luck as he moved in closer, licking his own lips in want. They were not quite touching but the intimacy was so intense she thought she felt his lips.

He was tricky, sneaky even, like a fox.

"Do I, what?" She felt suddenly impatient, wanting the discussion to end and to press her lips against his to get this uncertainty over with.

'_Want me as much as I do you?'_ he thought, but it seemed a little too forward. He had to think of something less crass, a little classier, but he couldn't quite put his thoughts in order; her alluring scent was driving him crazy and he could hear her heart beating wildly.

Dizzy and disregarding the anxiety of rejection, Naruto was anticipating her touch. The feel of her skin was intoxicating and he was losing a little bit of control. This was not what he had planned; it was getting a little bit out of hand, but he went with it— she didn't seem to mind.

"Can we..." He grazed her nose with his own, his eyes searching for any rejection on his closeness, but he couldn't find any. Her mouth was slightly open, her eyes closed and she had grabbed onto his shirt, fisting it in her nervousness. She didn't miss him breathing in her scent and she felt her heart flutter, making her do the same to him. His eyes widened a fraction and it took everything in him not to crash his mouth down on hers in a searing kiss.

'_Get a hold of yourself! Don't screw this up!'_ he berated himself.

Reluctantly, he squeezed his eyes shut and reprimanded his out of control hormones. He took another deep breath and repressed the urge to hit his forehead against the wall behind her.

"Can we try again?" he asked her. She licked her lips again, at first uncertain on what he was requesting, but it didn't take long for her to get the hint and she nodded lightly, her mind a little muddled from the proximity of his body. He pressed himself against her, dropping the tulip as he reached and grabbed her softly by the nape of the neck. His lips grazed her own in a teasing manner that made her toes curl and she shuddered when his fingers loosened the bun and tangled themselves in her hair.

He leaned in and she could almost taste the lemon of his long eaten skittles, the heat of his skin tingling her own, making her whole body feel like it was on fire as she felt his thigh slip between her legs, bringing their bodies closer.

'_Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me,' _she sang like a mantra inside her mind and he was more than happy to oblige; he was but mere millimetres from his goal.

"Hinata, you forgot your purse in the... _Oh_!"

They both opened their eyes in surprise and whipped their heads towards the intruder. Hanabi stood there, grinning and laughing deviously, while Hinata blushed to a new shade of red and Naruto cursed openly at his bad luck.

* * *

Wow, I'm an evil bitch. R&R! :P

**References:**

Jonquil: Love Me; Affection Returned; Desire; Sympathy; Desire for Affection Returned  
Tulip: Variegated - Beautiful Eyes


	10. Taste the Rainbow

**A small crack in perfection**  
_By eternalshiva_

**Disclaimer –**  
I do not own _Naruto_ or its characters, they belong to _Masashi Kishimoto _nor do I make any monies off this fan fiction.

**AN** – *Emerges out of the darkness* Lookie a long ass chapter! And it's disgusting fluffy – Never again will a chapter be this sickly sweet, enjoy it while you can! Thought I'd give you guys a break from all the emo lately. *Sinks back into the darkness*

Thank you _Juopunumies _and_ Perpetual159 _for the beta, I appreciate it.

**Chapter 10**  
_Taste the Rainbow_

There was a strange, awkward silence that hung in the air and stung the skin. Naruto closed his eyes and pushed off from the wall while Hinata recovered some of her dignity. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far. Her fingers were still tangled in his shirt, demanding his closeness. It was very clear that she was not ready to let go, and her sudden insecurity surprised him.

"Hanabi, wh-wh-what are you doing here?" She barely managed to squeeze out her question.

She tugged at Naruto's shirt to stop his retreat; the need to hide herself from her sister's prying eyes was almost overwhelming. Disregarding her unusually shy behaviour, he allowed her uncertainty to pull him forward. She pressed his T-shirt against her lips, gripping the fabric into her small fists. His body automatically leaned into hers, making her fingers relax, but she still kept him close - he was her willing hostage. He leaned his chin against her temple and settled his gaze on the younger sibling.

"Like I said, you forgot your purse in the car, so..." Hanabi purposefully allowed the rest of her sentence to remain unsaid. She then crossed her arms, leaning her weight from one foot to the next. "What's, ah... going on in here?" The smirk betrayed her suggested obliviousness to the situation; it was more than obvious.

Unfortunately for the eldest sister, the younger one had the terrible habit of making her uncomfortable for her own amusement.

"We were discussing the meaning of flowers," Naruto suggested quite suddenly.

Hinata had yet to utter a word in response and the long pause of silence was getting uncomfortable.

"Ah." Hanabi nodded quite seriously, her index wrapped around her chin. "Would I be able to participate in this most informative conversation?" she asked innocently. "Being that I'm your assistant, dear sister, I need to be kept informed of our company's endeavours."

She was too clever for her own good. The priceless expression on her sister's face was worth every uncomfortable second she risked being disowned by the Heiress.

Hinata just stared, still unable to form the words for a coherent sentence to rebuke the question.

"How very considerate of you, Miss Hyuuga," Naruto voiced, feeling Hinata's fist tighten its grip against his chest, "but I'm afraid this discussion is not open for the participation of third parties."

Hanabi sighed, feigning disappointment before they both grinned, becoming instant collaborators in an evil scheme to torture the flabbergasted Heiress. A little _hmph_ escaped Hinata's lips, and it was then when they realized that their jig was up. She wasn't about to idly stand there and put up with this little farce at her expense.

"Th-thank you for bringing my purse," she mumbled quickly against Naruto's chest, exasperated that she couldn't keep that particular habit under control. In her recent self-discovery, one of the first things Hinata learned was that stuttering had plagued her since childhood, and, by the looks of it, this inconvenient habit was making a strong comeback, determined to humiliate her at the most inopportune moments. Ignoring Naruto's chuckle at her slip, she tried to get the creeping, fiery blush under control before pressing her palms firmly against his chest and pushing him back lightly. She avoided making eye contact, fearing she would lose all resolve if she dared to look into those blue pools.

She felt his hand steady her at the elbow as she made every attempt to look dignified while walking towards her sister. But her efforts were in vain. Her hair was a complete mess, never mind the fact that part of her shirt was un-tucked.

Hanabi burst out laughing, hard and without restraint, while pointing at her own blouse. Hinata's gaze landed on the white trim of her blouse, and, to her dismay, she found two undone buttons. Hinata narrowed her eyes and looked accusingly at the instigator. He only chuckled sheepishly, shrugging in feigned innocence. She evenly divided the time she spent glaring at them, tucking in her shirt and grumbling threats under her breath. Naruto tried to not smile by pressing his lips together, but it didn't help him any. Quite the contrary, actually. His attempts at playing it innocent - not to mention the mischievous glint in his eyes - made him look horrendously guilty.

Hinata felt a little frazzled. When did he get the chance to unbutton her blouse, let alone un-tuck it? She didn't even realize he had touched her there. And thus, Hinata decided that he was dangerous to her senses. As soon as he invaded her personal space, her sensibility blurred and the world around her disappeared, fading until he was the only thing that remained.

Her brows pinched in a frown and there was a change in her step as she nearly stomped toward her sister. She snatched the purse from Hanabi's languid fingers and huffed out a "Thank you" before marching right back to Naruto. She still had that particular look on her face and he wondered if he should tactfully retreat to his room and stay there until Konohamaru showed up the next morning.

_Might be the safest option..._

He didn't get too far with his plan, however. Hinata had already pushed the ottoman aside, making enough room to let her small figure through, and disappeared behind the bedroom door. He caught her eyes before she dutifully shut herself in with a resounding _thunk_.

He knew that look. He knew it well.

He sighed and shook his head. All the women in his life had given him that look at one point or another, but he just didn't expect Hinata to give it to him so soon.

"Oh, dear." Hanabi, on the other hand, was far from distressed. She wiped at a tear that had escaped while she hysterically laughed at her sister's strange retreat. "I think we may have upset her, Naruto."

He glanced away from the wood panels of the door and looked at the other woman, scratching behind his right ear absentmindedly, contemplating how he'd managed to get into the doghouse again.

"Yeah..." As a prankster, he had cleared his mind of all warning bells when he took Hanabi's invitation to participate in the tease. "We went too far, I think."

"No," she assured the blond, "she's mad with me, mostly."

That last little bit wasn't missed by him and he groaned. Just as things were finally starting to look up for him, he had to put his foot in his mouth with an idiotic grin.

Hanabi took her shoes off and walked towards him, eyes glinting with amusement.

"She gave me _that_ look, though," he mumbled dejectedly as he pointed at the door, sceptical, and heard a noise behind the wooden panes that resembled something close to an agreement on Hinata's part.

Hanabi shrugged and walked past him towards the kitchen. "She'll get over it; she's just annoyed I interrupted."

Her voice was muffled by the sound of water and the thick walls that separated them. With Hanabi in the other room, Naruto sighed in relief. Out of nowhere, he was strangely having a very difficult time hiding the flush of his cheeks. He gave the door a longing look and barely knocked on it. His knuckles then dragged slowly down the wood and he frowned slightly.

"Hinata?" he whispered; her name was quiet in his ears, but he knew she heard him. The door opened, providing a crack large enough for her to shyly look at him. Her fingers wrapped around the door edge and she waited for him to speak.

Naruto's breath suddenly hitched. There was something unexpectedly beautiful about the way she was tinged with pink, her eyes shy and her bottom lip abused from her uncertainty. He reached out and let his fingers lightly touch her fingers on the door in comfort. Her gaze followed the movement and she gave him a small, reassuring smile. Naruto couldn't help but think of how warm they were compared to his.

There was something soothing about her, he couldn't quite say what exactly, but she calmed him despite his nervousness. It was like the world Hinata was offering him was like water to an unquenchable thirst, and with a sudden fierceness, he couldn't imagine what his life had been without her. When he tried, he discovered that it was boring and tinged with grey.

It was then that he realized he couldn't screw this up; he wouldn't allow himself to.

"I'm sorry about what I just said. I mean it," he whispered, only loud enough for her to hear. His blue eyes had darkened - or maybe it was her imagination? - as they swept over her face and she felt a delicious wave of heat where ever they looked. Her heart was beating hard again and she found herself far too aware of him. Focusing on him before nodding, she pulled the door open, widening the space that kept them separated.

Naruto was relieved when she moved towards him, glad to know she had forgiven his prank, but her next action left him a little confused. Her fingers wrapped themselves in his, enveloping his skin like velvet. Her small feet stopped between his and tip toed her body upwards.

Hinata kissed him tenderly, and the silky feeling of her lips on his set his senses on overdrive. He felt her tongue slip slightly between his lips, and, before he could respond properly, she broke the intimate contact, stepping back into her room. She sighed, satisfied, and pressed her fingertips against her mouth; he could see the smile lingering.

"I just wanted to know if it really was lemon," she whispered as she started to close her door. "Good night, Naruto."

The door clicked shut, and the blond let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was dumbstruck; he could only stare as his brain processed the second assault from the petite woman.

_"_Lemon?" His mind was buzzing with a strange sensation.

"Oh..." His fingers touched his lips, the heat of her kiss lingering, the feel of her tongue still burning his, "right... the skittles."

* * *

A small hand struck her, and she pushed the offending body part from her face. Hinata sat up, groggy from an uncomfortable night of sleep. She stretched and poked Hanabi, trying to stir her awake. The younger sister swatted her fingers away, a grumbled "go away, just five more minutes"slurred in Hinata's direction.

There was a loud clang of pans that startled her, and she sighed when she realised Hanabi had left the bedroom door open when she crawled into bed with her the night before. Her gaze crossed the hallway and landed in Naruto's room. She figured that he'd probably been up for a while, considering the bed was made and the door was wide open. Hanabi stirred, stealing the blankets from her, mumbling something about letting the cold in, making Hinata shake her head.

She stood up from the bed, pulled on a robe, and made her way towards the kitchen where the sounds grew louder. She could hear Naruto speaking, but the specifics were lost in the clanking noises and the sound of rushing water. She peeked around the entrance and watched him - he was filling the tea kettle while speaking on his cell - and suddenly she grew nervous. Her forwardness from the previous night hadn't really sunk in until just now, and, to her misfortune, she couldn't figure out a way to casually greet him without probably making a fool of herself.

"Good morning, Hinata."

His voice sliced through her inner battle of nerves and indecision, making her look at him, startled. He grinned at her, a light flush on his cheeks. She smiled at him, realising that he was just as nervous.

"You are making tea?" Hanabi strolled in behind her, startling both of them.

"Yeah, you mentioned you liked tea." Naruto returned to his phone conversation.

Hinata gave her sister a strange look. Hanabi's indifferent response was that of a shrug as she walked past her and sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. Hinata followed her sister and joined her; she had a few questions for the little troublemaker.

Naruto put two cups before the sisters and pointed at the coffee, eyeing Hinata in a silent question. She nodded. He poured her a cup, pulled out the tea container from one of the cupboards and placed it by Hanabi; she thanked him before he made his way out of the kitchen to give the girls some privacy and avoid interrupting them with his call.

Hinata sipped the warm liquid, wondering what exactly had happened after she had gone to bed.

"Why are you still here?" She put down her cup, wrapping her fingers around the porcelain, seeking the warmth.

Hanabi glanced at her, busy stirring the tea bag as she let out a strange giggle. "I stayed up for a while with Naruto discussing the contract." She turned her attention towards her eldest sister and smiled. "It was an opportune time, since he was awake."

Hinata felt another blush creeping up.

"Plus, I'm supposed to meet with his associate today." She brought the cup to her lips and took a small sip, discovering the tea to be far too hot. "Naruto suggested I stay here since it was getting quite late and Konohamaru will be meeting me here."

"That's the only reason?" Hinata eyed her sister suspiciously.

Hanabi didn't even bother hiding her mischievous little grin. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

Hinata let out this little hum, her eyes narrowing when her sister began to giggle again. When she opened her mouth to call her sly sister on her devious little plan, she heard shuffling sounds coming from the kitchen entrance.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt." Naruto flicked his cell shut and dropped it in his shirt pocket.

At the sound of keys jingling, Hinata noticed the large rolled up pieces of paper he held under an arm.

"I have to bring these to Kiba for a second opinion and I have to deal with some problems back at the office."

"When will Konohamaru arrive?" Hanabi cut in before Hinata could answer him.

Naruto's gaze left Hinata and focused on the younger sister. "Probably another hour or so, though I'm not sure I'll be back before then." His gaze shifted to Hinata again, and he smiled at her. "Well, I'll -"

"Why don't you walk him to the door, Hinata?" Hanabi took another sip of her tea nonchalantly.

Hinata almost choked on her coffee. Coughing painfully, she shot the younger Hyuuga a dirty look, but her threat was ineffective, since Hanabi was completely ignoring her. Naruto shook his head, chuckling, and walked away from the kitchen. Hinata followed after Naruto, and just as she prepared to give her sister another_ this-isn't-over_ glare, she was distracted by the feel of his fingers sneaking inside her hand and wrapping themselves around hers.

She blinked, feeling his hand tug her along towards the door. She didn't resist, allowing her steps to fall soundlessly next to his. She glanced towards his face; his expression was relaxed, almost sleepy, and - as though he could feel her watching - he met her gaze, smiling when she blushed lightly.

This was more like the girl he remembered. That endearing, everlasting blush that he never understood back then was now a compliment to him. He squeezed her hand lightly before turning towards her when they reached the entrance.

"Don't be so nervous around me," he requested in a whisper before she felt his lips on her cheek. "I don't bite too hard." He winked at her and stepped outside. She wasn't quite sure how to react to that so she did the only thing she discovered she was good at around him: blush and stutter. Her sentence was a jumble that made Naruto bark out a laugh and kiss her cheek again.

"I'll be back soon." He waved to her, and shifted his gaze beyond hers. "And _you_! Don't harass her too much!"

Hinata heard another onslaught of giggles that made her ears burn.

"What a valiant protector," her sister's musical voice drifted down the hall.

Hinata turned towards the offending sound, only to see the instigator leaning against the frame of the kitchen entrance, watching her. "Again, _why_ are you _still _here?"

Hanabi didn't answer her; the younger sibling only raised a brow and smirked, watching in amusement as Hinata threw her hands up in the air, sighing in defeat and disappearing into her room to change.

She wouldn't have missed this for anything; the transformation was incredible. For once, Hanabi was in complete agreement with her cousin's plans and she had to make sure to give him a full report the next time she saw him.

* * *

Naruto stepped off the elevator, relieved somewhat to be on familiar grounds, and headed straight towards his office. As much as he liked being at Hinata's, he could get some work done here at a faster rate. He absently wondered where Akamaru was, missing the mutt's usual greeting at the elevator. He pushed the stray thought away when he heard voices.

It didn't take long for him to realise that Kiba was speaking with Shikamaru down the hall. The memory of promising to meet with them yesterday fluttered in at the back of his mind, and he repressed the urge to groan. He had entirely forgotten, his mind entirely focused on Hinata and the mess he'd managed to get himself into. It wasn't like him to forget meetings, especially important ones.

Worst part of forgetting this particular meeting was the fact that it was a Compromised Network Meeting - full of information, jargon and examples he couldn't dream of understanding. Put it in landscape terminology and he was your man... but computers... just the thought of it made him cringe. Kiba hadn't gone into too many details over what happened, but he knew it was something major, considering White Snake had sent a team over almost instantaneously when Kiba hacked off the server lines like a cave man.

"... can't believe they would go that far. I knew there was more to it than just stealing Naruto's landscaping designs; the security programs are too complex to be used for that purpose."

Naruto stopped short of his office and listened in. Something about Shikamaru's monotone voice nearly lulled him to sleep on his feet.

_'Dear god, I'm not gonna make it through this meeting if Shikamaru reports the whole damned thing to me.'_

Mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of sleep inducing boredom, he was interrupted by a strange squeak he wasn't familiar with, annoyingly grinding on his nerves.

_'That better not be my chair making that sound...'_ he thought irritably before stepping inside the office. He was greeted with the bark of Akamaru and Kiba's feet on his desk.

"Speaking of the devil!" Kiba exclaimed happily when the door to the office busted open and a mop of blond hair strolled in. He watched Naruto's happy expression slowly turn into a scowl. Kiba felt nervous all of a sudden.

Noticing the strange tilt in Kiba's sitting position, Naruto narrowed his eyes, his face pinched oddly. Kiba straightened out, trying to un-tilt the chair.

_'Fuck...' _Kiba knew he was eyeballs-deep in shit and there was no way around it.

"About time you showed up." Kiba grinned at him, completely ignoring the threats dripping off his boss. He wanted to defend himself in regards to the chair, but, lucky for him, there were more pressing matters and this wasn't the time. He shrugged when Naruto shot him a _what-the-fuck-happened-here_ glare.

Shikamaru sighed, sensing the tension between the two idiots. The bored sigh seemed to have snapped them out of their inner monologue battle, and Naruto motioned for Kiba to get out from behind his desk.

"Sorry, I got side-tracked. What's going on?"

"I bet you did." Kiba stood up and walked around the desk.

The dog lover had that grin again, Naruto noticed, like he knew something the blond was completely oblivious to. Oh, how he hated that grin.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naruto was irked; he felt like the butt of some joke. This only made Kiba snicker and pretend he had no idea what Naruto was talking about.

Shikamaru shook his head lightly, wondering whatever possessed him to accept this new contract.

"If you two twiddle-dums are done, I'd like to get this show on the road."

Naruto and Kiba looked at Shikamaru, both of them surprised by the sudden authoritative tone the lazy technician used to bring them back to the topic at hand.

They both apologised, but continued to snicker and glare.

"Now," Shikamaru cut in before Naruto decided to throttle Kiba into a coma for that last hand motion that specifically told Naruto what he thought about his threats, "lets discuss my findings."

Naruto placed the blue prints of his tentative designs on his desk before sitting down. The chair moved and tilted, made a high pitched squeak that indicated something was broken beyond repair. He shot Kiba a glare, but the dog owner only shrugged and ignored the choked snort of anger sputtering out of his boss.

"What exactly are those findings?" Naruto focused on Shikamaru, finally.

Surprised by the seriousness, Shikamaru leaned forward, his elbows hitting the top of the desk. He considered the ways he could dumb down the technical terms so that he didn't need to continuously repeat himself.

"It looks like they're using your network to get to a bigger prize. From what I could see, they're piggy-backing through you and doing damage elsewhere."

Naruto closed his eyes with dread. He didn't like where this was headed. "Do you know where they're attacking?"

Shikamaru nodded. "By the looks of things, and from what I could trace back to them, they're making it seem like your company is breaking into the city's systems and bank accounts."

Naruto wasn't sure he heard him quite right and must've asked several times to repeat that last bit. It must have been too much since Kiba had to pick up where Shikamaru left off, repeating it at least half a dozen times more, quite irritably, mind you. What happened next was expected, and Kiba was already prepared - Naruto's reaction to those sorts of things was pretty predictable, after all.

"What the _fuck_! This wasn't urgent enough for you to call me directly?" He was pissed. No, scratch that. He was _beyond _pissed! He couldn't believe the level of irresponsibility from his staff, failing to report this to him immediately was... was... "Arg!" he yelled, standing up and throwing his hands up in the air. He was at a loss for words and began to walk like a caged lion.

Kiba chuckled and Shikamaru waited for Naruto to calm down before continuing, but he should have known better. Kiba couldn't resist sadistically jabbing at Naruto when he was all worked up like this.

"Will you calm down for two minutes and listen to what he has to say?" Kiba barked while Naruto continued to rave, blaring out incoherent insults towards him specifically.

The blond stopped circling and narrowed his glare on the two idiots in his office. "You got two minutes before I fire both of your asses."

Kiba rolled his eyes. How many times did he hear _that_ in the span of a day? "We already contacted Tsunade and gave her a heads up on what's going on."

Naruto was instantly relieved. The last thing he wanted was to ruin her re-elections with some sort of scandal that not only brought his company to its knees, but dragged Tsunade's name and credibility through the mud.

"Shikamaru wrote a detailed report with all the evidence necessary to show that it's not really coming from our end, but from White Snake's company. He'll be handing that over to the authorities later on today since Tsunade's already working with them to bring down that company." Kiba kept watching Naruto's expression with a smirk. "Apparently, they've been trying to nail them for a couple of years."It had been a while since he had been _this_ entertained.

Naruto groaned. "There's more, isn't there?"

He forced himself not to rub his face when both Shikamaru and Kiba exchange knowing glances. He wasn't going to like this.

"So...?"

Naruto eyed Kiba, who had turned his attention to the large windows. This was Shikamaru's cue to pick up from there and convince Naruto that the end of the world wasn't about to strike.

"So, as you suspect, we're not entirely out of the woods," Shikamaru admitted.

"Meaning?" Naruto was getting a little tired of the cryptic answers. He focused on the technician, who leaned back into the chair, his hands crossed behind his head.

"There's someone else behind that company that's calling the shots, according to the detective we spoke with earlier today. They're just a middle man, unfortunately, from what I could gather."

Naruto rubbed his face with both hands, his stress was on a constant rise and he had a feeling things were about to get way more complicated. "What do we need to do, then?"

"We've been asked to keep track of White Snake's moves; monitor them so that they can trace it back to whoever is calling the shots." Shikamaru pressed his finger tips to his temples, tying to think of a way to explain it better. Naruto was standing still at least but had this horrible confused look on his face. _'This is ... troublesome.'_

"Aren't these bastards in breach of our contract? They were only supposed to be technical support and provide full weekly backups of the servers." He looked to Kiba for confirmation, who nodded in agreement. "So, why should I continue business with them? I should sue Kabuto's ass for this bullshit."

Kiba knew that for the longest time, Naruto had been trying to find a good reason to get rid of them, and now that the opportunity presented itself virtually on a silver platter, he now needed a real good reason to convince him otherwise. Go figure.

Kiba gave Shikamaru a pleading look to be a little bit more patient and explain it clearly. Shikamaru sighed. He had one trump card left.

"Tsunade thinks she knows who it is, but they need more evidence."

Kiba almost laughed when Naruto let out a long sigh. He knew the blond couldn't refuse his godmother, no matter what.

"So she wants me to continue playing possum?"

"Pretty much," Kiba said.

Naruto crumbled on his chair and groaned. "Christ... how long are we going to have to put with this?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Until we can get a more solid evidence for the police?"

Naruto shot him a heavy lidded glare. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

The sarcasm was purposefully missed by the technician, who merely nodded before continuing. "I've set up a several hidden codes inside the system to track their activities. At the same time, this will help me figure out how to break into theirs without being detected." He pointed at Naruto's desk, where there was a slim case the blond apparently hadn't noticed yet. "I picked up another computer for you. That, I will be adding to your bill, by the way. It has its own secure network with my firm."

Naruto picked it up, opened the case and grinned when he saw the laptop.

"Your staff will continue to use the network, but you and Kiba will be on a separate one. I'll be uploading dummy files to keep suspicion away, but I would stay away from your computers for now."

Naruto nodded, agreeing to the terms set up by Shikamaru.

The technician stood up and stretched, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm heading out. Been here two days already, and I'm sure my wife is going to start wondering if I've been kidnapped."

Kiba laughed, shaking his head. "You make it sound like I didn't let you leave the office, Shika."

"You didn't," he deadpanned, which only made Kiba laugh harder. "Anyway, give me a call later if anything happens; I'll be monitoring everything from home for a while."

Shikamaru walked out, grumbling under his breath something about how troublesome it was going to be to hear her nag him about not coming home when he was supposed to.

Naruto smirked and waved. He then focused on the report sitting in front of him, knowing it was filled with details he'd never understand so he pushed it aside distastefully. He could feel a pair of eyes on him, burning with curiosity.

"So..." Kiba leaned over to pet Akamaru.

Naruto knew that _so_... it didn't bode well for him. "What?"

Why was Kiba still in his office? Didn't he have a home to go to?

There was a dangerous smirk on his face that made Naruto nervous.

"What happened for you to _forget_ an appointment? Especially an _important_ one?"

_Ugh._ He knew that was coming.

"What appointment?" He was desperate to avoid the subject. The last thing he needed was Kiba prancing around like a peacock bragging about how right he was. His lead on the imaginary score board was by far, too much, if Naruto had anything to say about it.

"You were supposed to come here and have this particular conversation with Shikamaru and I yesterday, after you got kicked out of Hinata's for being an asshole." Kiba eyed the blond, who squirmed in his chair with an irritated frown.

"You bastard, you broke my chair."

"Don't change the subject!" Kiba ignored the daggers being glared his way. True, he had an unfortunate accident with the chair that involved Akamaru, a Frisbee and some sort of _game_ - but that was beside the point!

Naruto snorted crassly and crossed his arms, unwilling to participate in a bout of gossip in regards to his love life.

"Tell me!" Kiba had broken into a complete grin by this point; he could pretty much figure out what had happened by the simple fact Naruto's stubborn streak had flared to monstrous proportions.

"What is this, High School?" Naruto mumbled.

Kiba laughed. "Yeah, we're in High School and I want all the juicy little details!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Forget it. I'm not saying shit."

Kiba smirked, this only meant one thing, and one thing only. "I was totally right."

He stood up from the leather seat and did some strange little jig that had Naruto groaning in despair. _'A fucking victory dance.'_ Naruto couldn't believe it.

"It's not like that, at all." He tried to get through the chanting and the hopping, but Kiba was completely ignoring him, too busy celebrating another point on the invisible score board.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose when Akamaru began to bark in celebration with his master. He really needed to fire Kiba, his sanity demanded it.

"Are you done? We have things to discuss." Naruto pointed to the rolled up blue prints, trying to bar the image of Kiba gyrating his hips out of his eyeballs. Hearing the defeated tone in his friend's voice, Kiba decided to cut him some slack, but he would eventually get the nitty-gritty details out of him, even if it killed him.

He picked up the rolled up drafts, settled them on the graph table. Unrolling them carefully, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy at Naruto's natural talent.

"I don't know why you always ask for my opinion, your shit is always flawless," Kiba complained as his fingers grazed the top of the paper, following the dents created by several erased lines. He could tell that Naruto had spent far too much time rearranging ideas as he began to uncover Hinata's personality.

He was right, this design was complete genius.

From what he could tell, the area the garden was going to be in was a total pain in the ass, but Naruto had not only overcome the issues, he'd implemented every single detail Hinata had requested. The level of complexity was mind boggling, to say the least, but it created the sanctuary she wanted.

"We're partners. I need your input and your uncanny ability to tell me if this is even possible to create."

Kiba glanced over his shoulder; Naruto approached the table, a frown on his brow.

"It's possible, but a complete pain in the ass. There are a few adjustments we can make here and there to ease the work you'll have to do." He pulled the second sheet from the bottom and quickly glanced through it, this one determined the materials needed and the cost. This was massive, even for Naruto.

"You worked really hard on this... I think this is going to be the best one you've put together." Naruto chuckled, he had to disagree. His godfather's memorial garden was the best one he'd ever created. He'd poured part of his soul into that one.

"She's a special girl. I can't screw this up," he said without thinking.

Kiba raised a brow, curious, but there was a distant look in Naruto's eyes that prevented him from asking any further.

"After I revise these, are they ready to go to Sai for the visual concept?"

Kiba's question interrupted the silence that had started to weigh in heavily, forcing Naruto back to focus on the current problems.

"Yeah, I still need to pass these by Shino so he can decide what he's going to use to upkeep the garden in a natural state."

He squinted his eyes in thought; the entomologist was the secret to his success. Naruto tried to make the gardens self-sufficient in fighting natural mini-disasters, especially indoor ones. Also, Shino trained his clients on the care and control of the little lady bug armies. He'd discovered over the years that women were more than willing to accept these little insects into their homes, and it was even better when they discovered that they could prevent the insects from flying and localise them to the garden. It all made his life a lot easier and it was a lot less upkeep work for the clients.

"If you're planning on getting this one started by next week, you need to get in touch with him today so he can start the colonies and get in contact with Hinata to train her on how to take care of them," Kiba added, following Naruto's train of thought.

He chuckled when Naruto sputtered out a "_Stop doing that!" _and threw a crumpled up piece of paper at his head. There was a chime that jingled while Kiba gathered the blue prints and prepared to leave for his office to do the edits. Naruto sat back down and dug the phone out of his pocket and looked to see who was calling him.

He grinned and waved off Kiba, who stuck out his tongue at him before taking his leave.

"Ah, Sakura! Just the girl I wanted to talk to." Naruto threw his feet on top of the desk and leaned back comfortably. "You'll never guess what happened after I left yesterday."

Kiba shook his head before closing the door behind him. Sakura had to get a clue at some point. Naruto had moved on. Maybe this would be the push she needed to finally move on herself.

_'Wait, where am I going?'_ He certainly wasn't about to miss out on the juiciest moment of Naruto's life by _walking away and working_ like a slave in his office!

No way,_ José_!

He pressed his ear against the door and had to stop himself from snickering.

* * *

Hinata was completely scandalised.

She stared at the bowl in front of her, blushing furiously. Hanabi was grinning at her while she dumped the large bag of skittles into it.

"I shouldn't have told you anything."

"That's not how it works, sister dear." Hanabi snickered when Hinata pressed her lips together in rebellion. "You should know better by now; you don't mention anything to me unless you want something done about it."

She did know better, but, somehow, she still opened her trap and spilled out the incredible and forward thing she did. Plus, it didn't help either that her sister had harassed her for nearly an hour before she finally pried out of her the details of the innocent little kiss she gave Naruto.

Hanabi had been _delighted_ when Hinata slipped out "he tasted like lemon skittles," and had nearly run out of the house. The glint in her eye should have sent warning bells to Hinata when the younger woman grabbed the car keys and slammed the door shut.

At first, Hinata wasn't sure where her sister had gone, thinking that she was finally on her own to reminisce on the latest events, all the things Naruto made her feel but she was rudely interrupted again by her sister, who was carrying a theatre size bag of skittles.

"You seriously expect me to just waltz up to N-N-Naruto and ask him _what_?"

"To play a game of _Taste the Rainbow_," Hanabi chirped. Her sister was at a loss for words. Never in her life had she seen Hinata so completely... vulnerable. This was _fun_!

Hinata wouldn't have anything to do with it. It was so... so... so _devious_! It was just like her little sister to come up with something so sneaky and underhanded, just to steal a few kisses.

"I refuse!"

Hanabi rolled her eyes and picked up the bowl of candy, grabbed her sister's wrist and dragged her to the living room.

"We've just kissed for the first time yesterday! This is much too forward!" she continued to argue. Hanabi only snorted and brushed her off, mumbling something about her eldest sister being a complete and total _prude_.

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are." Hanabi turned around and stared at her flabbergasted sister, Hinata couldn't decide between laughing hysterically or glaring her sister into an early grave.

Unfortunately for Hinata, Hanabi had grown immune to her cold and terrifying stares a long time ago and popped a candy in her mouth.

"The rules are simple: One of you eats a candy," she crunched down on the little yellow candy in her mouth as she spoke, "the other keeps their eyes closed," she pointed at Hinata, who could only continue to blush in complete horror, "and the challenge for the one with their eyes closed is to discover what flavour the candy is." Hanabi smirked.

"But it's in our mouth!" _Oh god_, she was going to faint.

"That's the point! Can't be a prude either, you got to _taste_ it," she stuck out her tongue and made it wiggle, "or it doesn't count."

"Count? Count for what?" Was there supposed to be a prize at the end of this? She couldn't phantom the... _oh wait_, no she could, quite clearly in fact. Hanabi almost doubled over in laughter when her sister clued in as to the possible results of this little game were.

"Where did you learn such a _perverted_ game?"

"Neji told me about it; it's Tenten's favourite."

_Ugh_. That's one piece of information she could have spent the rest of her life not knowing, blissfully ignorant of her cousin's foreplay games.

A knock at the door saved Hinata from any further humiliation from her sister and was _tickled pink_ when she discovered it was Konohamaru coming to whisk her sister away from her sanctuary.

Finally, some peace!

* * *

"Oh really?" Sakura was amused as she listened to Naruto chipper on about his kiss and what had transpired between the two after she dropped him off at Hinata's.

"Yeah, I passed right out after spending an hour working out the perfect apology," he grumbled. "I forgot the whole damned thing the second I saw her. I felt so stupid."

"It all worked out in the end, right?" She chuckled before eating another spoonful of ice-cream.

"Well yeah..." He felt heat on his cheeks and wondered what the hell he was doing blushing all by himself in his office. "Anyway, she caught on to the flowers right away. Unlike a certain _someone_ I know."

It was no secret that she could never get his flower obsession, and she was actually glad someone out there understood his strange behaviour.

"You're so god damned cryptic with those flowers! How's a girl supposed to know the Naruto encyclopaedia of weird confessions?"

That hit a nerve on his end; it irked him how she belittled all his affections from the past and those for Hinata. "Hinata does," he huffed, imagining as she rolled her eyes, which she did.

"You're both weird. I'm not surprised she understood." Her spoon clanged loudly against the bowl, and Naruto frowned at her unusual irritation.

"What else happened? Don't leave a girl hanging."

He pressed his lips together, wondering if she was really alright. "Well, we almost kissed."

"You did?" She smirked. "Sounds like you got interrupted."

"Yeah, her sister strolled in at the worst possible moment. It sucked." He grinned, recalling Hinata's cute little stutter and the various shades of pink and red she displayed on her face. "Her sister's pretty funny, actually. Right up my alley with pranks."

Sakura burst out laughing. She could just imagine poor Hinata getting terrorized by a Prankster-Mode Naruto. He had the worst timing with that split personality of his.

"Stop laughing!" He chuckled as well, but he suddenly sobered up, his thoughts lingering on Hinata. With her delicate nature under that entire tough exterior, the urge to protect her was almost overwhelming.

"You know, Sakura..."

Sakura paused, his seriousness caught her attention. "Yeah...?"

"I think... I'm falling for her and it scares me a little bit."

"Why would it scare you?" She gave a small chuckle, flinching at how his words, the sudden intimacy in which he whispered them through the phone, cut through her.

Several seconds went by and Naruto didn't answer her question, lost in thought.

"Naruto...?"

"Ah, sorry for saying that, I'm not sure what came over me." The sober mood was dispelled as quickly as it came.

"It's fine." Sakura's voice was warm, comforting. "I'm happy for you. I'm glad... I'm glad you found someone."

"You think so?" He laughed, it was odd to hear Sakura so subdued.

"Yeah, I know so." She grinned despite the strange sense of loss coming over her. Naruto had found his love and she... she couldn't forget Sasuke no matter what she did. Her heart ached suddenly and the need for the mysterious boy crawled out from the darkest depth of her memories.

Would she ever be able to move on, and forget about him? She doubted it... she needed closure before she could be happy with someone else.

"Maybe. I'm not sure she feels that way, though." Naruto sighed, dragging Sakura out of her darkened mood.

"What would make you say that?"

"She doesn't seem too sure about things... always nervous."

"You're retarded." Sakura rolled her eyes and put the empty bowl on her coffee table, sucking on a bit of ice cream that dared escape her bowl from her thumb as she listened to Naruto sputter.

"What?"

"You. Are. Retarded." Sakura couldn't possibly say it any slower if she tried. She wasn't entirely surprised that he didn't realize how overwhelming his focused attention was. She knew it firsthand. As flattering as it was, it was a little scary to be the center of Naruto Uzumaki's world.

"Explain to me why you think that?" His tone of voice suggested she choose her words carefully, but she knew him far too long to pay attention to anything he warned about.

"Because you're completely clueless."

Naruto snorted. Although this may have been true, that didn't explain anything.

Sakura grumbled at his snort, and he demanded she'd be more specific, forcing her to think a lot harder than she was prepared for at that instant.

"She's probably not very confident around you." That much was obvious to anyone, even Naruto. "You're like a beam of energy and it's hard to follow you sometimes, to keep up." She sighed. She knew he wouldn't get it.

"I don't get it."

_'Figures...'_

Sakura quietly rubbed the length of her face and held a groan in check. He was so _frustrating_.

"Let's try this again... you have a tendency to be relentless when you go after something you really want, Naruto. She's probably overwhelmed by the pushiness of your intentions."

"My _pushiness_?" Her words cut through him like a slap. Was he really pushy? Did he overwhelm her?

"Yeah. Just take it slow, Naruto. She'll come out of her shell eventually; the best love is a patient one." There was a soft knock at her door, and Sakura said her goodbyes and hung up the phone.

Naruto stared ahead, wondering exactly what he was supposed to do to be a little less Naruto. If he did that, would that make Hinata more comfortable to be herself around him? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose, though?

This... was beyond complicated. Sakura always managed to make him doubt himself, past and present, and for the first time in his life, his confidence was shaken.

* * *

The sun had begun to set before Kiba strolled back into Naruto's office with the edited version to Hinata's gardens. There wasn't much to change per se, just an adjustment in reality. Some of the designs he came up with were really out there and unless you owned NASA's anti-gravity chamber, they were impossible to create.

"You going home soon?"

Naruto looked up from his graph table; black ink was smudged on his cheek as he scratched at the scars hiding under it. There was a strange hesitation on his part that had Kiba rolling his eyes. He could tell Sakura had said something to shake him up. Even though she probably just mentioned something in passing with all the good intentions in the world, she didn't really understand Naruto and burdened him with a lot of her own insecurities.

"Yeah, I just need to-"

"You need to head out to Hinata's and ignore whatever Sakura said."

Kiba dropped the plans on the coffee table and glanced at Naruto, who had flinched at the seriousness of the words.

Naruto sighed. He was too transparent for his own good.

"I just-"

"Just _nothing_." Kiba was irritated; she had done a number on him. "You were all psyched this morning and now you're acting like a hermit. Get the hell out of here. You're not even supposed to be in the office for a week solid." Kiba pointed at the door, grabbed Naruto's jacket and called over Akamaru. The mutt was more than happy to help his master push out the struggling landscapist from the confines of his oversized office.

"What the _fu_-"

"Shut up already! Now, get out of here; I'm busy!" Kiba shouted as he pushed Naruto into the elevator.

Akamaru growled when Naruto tried to stand up from his sprawled position on the floor. He shot Kiba a dirty look, but it was met with a toothy grin, a cheeky "_have fun"_ and the click of the elevator's metal doors.

Naruto sighed and picked himself off the floor, brushing off invisible dust. He wasn't sure how to broach the subject with Hinata. How do you ask someone if they're too much?

Well, he certainly wasn't going to casually walk up to her and say, "Hey! I noticed you can barely stay conscious around me, does that mean I'm too much for you?" That... that sounded ridiculous. It's not like she was fainting every time they met or touched. She was just... really nervous and clamped up so bad she could barely function. In fact, she was like an entirely different person.

"... Fuck, I really _am_ moving too fast." He fisted his hands and sighed. Moments later, the metal doors opened and let him out towards the entrance of his building as he waved to the guard and walked out towards his car.

Figuring that the drive to Hinata's was a little ways, he decided he'd use up the time to come up with something. Now that he had Hinata where he wanted her, he couldn't afford to lose her. The mere thought of it squeezed at his heart.

* * *

Hinata cursed at her sweaty hands, there was a lump in her stomach that made her want to curl up on the floor and forget the whole dare from her sister.

Whatever possessed her to agree to this lunacy was beyond her, but… there was something deep inside her that had her fired up to _try_ it.

Of course, it had nothing to do with the fact she was itchy to feel his lips on hers again, or the way his eyes turned into that deep blue when his mind was full of her...

Nope, no influence from that what so ever!

_'Whom am I kidding?'_ She slumped over on the ottoman, her mind possessed by the presence of Naruto. It was strange how he had barged into her life, their meeting completely accidental at the phone kiosk, his familiarity had clicked something inside her and it had gone downhill from there.

Well... not downhill, necessarily. Far from it in fact, she was glad that her indifference with the world had all but vanished. She felt a little out of whack with her newfound memories and all the things they meant. Her family was becoming close to her heart again; the road to forgiving herself had begun. Her father wanted to heal their relationship as well, which she had a little bit of trouble accepting after all the pain, but... she was willing.

She shook her head, now wasn't the time to think on these things, there were more pressing -_urgent-_ matters at hand! Like figuring out how to do this without resorting to losing consciousness, and convincing Naruto she wasn't a loose woman! It was silly to be this nervous; she was a Hyuuga, the pillar of strength and determination, and she wouldn't lose to a trivial thing like emotions.

She groaned, pressing her finger tips against her forehead; she leaned back and let her head hit the cushioned back of the ottoman, squeezing her eyes shut.

_'Where is my Heiress persona when I __**need**__ it?'_ she mumbled to herself before opening her eyes and meeting a pair of amused blue ones, staring at her from above.

"Hinata?"

She _screamed, _startling Naruto. Hinata stood up suddenly; her hands flew to her mouth to silence the surprised yell and she backed up into the coffee table. The back of her knees bumped against the wood and jarred the piece of furniture awkwardly, tipping the bowl of skittles and spilling half its content on the table and floor.

The sound of the skittles was loud in Hinata's ears, almost deafening. Naruto had reached over the ottoman and grabbed her elbow when she nearly fell.

"Are you ok?"

His fingers were cold against the warmth of her flesh. "I'm fine," she answered. How mortifying; not exactly the way she envisioned greeting him when he returned. His gaze had left hers and focused on the mess she had caused.

He smirked.

It took everything in her not to groan and run out of the room. Not only was Hanabi's plan completely transparent, she didn't have the courage to pull it off. She wasn't daring, she wasn't a free spirit. She was… a stiff Hyuuga.

She did groan this time, and it was pretty loud. Naruto focused his attention back on her, his brow quirked up slowly, questioning her obvious distress. She was too humiliated to even phantom blushing so she decided to kneel down and start picking up the candies. Naruto shook his head slightly, wondering what exactly had her so flustered.

He decided not to ask and kneeled down next to her, helping to pick up the source of her embarrassment. The shared silence was welcomed by the heiress, but there was something a little strange about Naruto; he seemed almost subdued.

She expected some kind of joke or comment on how she had a giant bowl of skittles waiting for him, but he remained quiet, with that strange little smirk on his lips.

"Everything alright?" She didn't look away when he glanced at her. He shrugged before seating himself on the floor, crossing his legs Indian style.

"Ah, yeah... there are a few complications with another company. I can't really talk about it or I might have to kill you." He grinned, making her roll her eyes. She knew he wasn't being entirely honest - she remembered the signs from their childhood.

He scratched behind his ear, had a strange lopsided grin and his eyes looked away from her face, avoiding any kind of contact. A sure flag that Naruto Uzumaki was trying to avoid something unpleasant.

"Besides that," she gave him a small reassuring smile that made him frown, "something else is bothering you, I can tell."

He should have known better; the Hyuuga were known for their amazing skill in reading body language. "Well..." this was a pivotal moment; he had to choose his words carefully not to mislead her.

"You know, Hinata," his gaze had gone back to the skittles; his fingers picked up a few here and there before dropping them on the table, "I know I make you pretty nervous."

He bit his lower lip lightly; she wasn't moving, but her eyes were watching him carefully, which wasn't helping him relax.

"What do you mean?" Was her nervousness that obvious? She thought she had that pretty much under control... besides screaming when she saw him a few moments ago. _'Oh god, I'm completely transparent!' _She mentally kicked herself.

"Hmm, how can I say this - I mean, I want you to…" He clamped up, annoyed with himself.

"Want me to?" She leaned forward, catching his wandering attention; her fingers grazed his own and he suddenly felt a little silly. She moved closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her close to him; he smiled, forgetting his worry a moment.

Gathering all his courage, he let out a calming breath and just let the words flow out of his mouth.

"I want you to tell me if we're going too fast." Hinata perked a brow, amused slightly at his worry. She had been mulling over the same question all day and the sudden need to laugh was almost overwhelming.

"If you just want pecks on the cheek or just hold hands, I'm ok with that." He nodded, resolved to make sure she was comfortable with him in all aspects. He didn't want to chase her off with his influence if she wasn't entirely prepared to deal with his personality.

Hinata had to stop herself from laughing.

"Why are you so worried about such a silly thing?" She hid a giggle behind her hand, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Naruto glanced down and caught her good mood. He smiled nervously.

"Hmm, well, it's something Sakura mentioned to me today. I guess it had me thinking some weird things."

Hinata sighed, _'Ah, Sakura. Of course.' _

"Why the sigh?" He pushed her with his shoulder; she gave him a little pout which made him grin. She brought her free hand to his cheek and touched it with her finger tips, tracing the visible scars. Her face had gone very serious and she had him completely attentive.

"I'm perfectly fine the way things are. You're not going too fast or too slow," she half whispered, her eyes focused on his bronzed skin. He kept very still, her voice imprinting itself inside his mind.

"In fact, sometimes I worry that it's me that's going far too slow."

Naruto let out a sigh, glad to know she was worried too. He eyed the skittles and picked one up from the bowl. He felt Hinata shift, her fingers paused on his face and an impish grin played on his lips.

"So, what's with the candy?" Hinata blushed, hard. He was totally on to her.

"A silly idea," she tried to huff, disregarding the afternoon's events.

"Does it have something to do with a certain something that happened yesterday?" he teased. This wasn't helping her increasing embarrassment.

This was outside of her comfort zone, foreign territory that terrified and excited her. She heard a snicker and a "_you're so cute when you blush,"_ which only made her want to crawl under a rock.

"M-M-Maybe." She couldn't look at him. He stopped moving, and quirked a brow towards his little princess attempting to be a sneaky vixen. It was kind of amusing, so he played along.

He watched her pick up a candy, slip it in her mouth and defiantly stare at him, her lips pressed together, challenging his impish grin. He laughed; he wasn't sure what she was doing, but it was funny as hell considering she looked ready to tackle the world with sweets in her mouth.

"Hinata, what are -"

"Play with me," she cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"Play what, exactly?" He knew what she was getting at, but getting her to say it to him was much more amusing. Her expression was priceless; he was well aware it was taking everything in her to travel down this road, to step outside her norm. Pulling her out of that shell was a lot more fun than he anticipated.

She narrowed her eyes at him, crossed her arms and tried to get her nervousness under control. He was being daft on purpose, she could tell just by the way he was twisting a strand of her hair, plus his snickering and the gleeful glint in his eyes was a dead giveaway.

"You know what I mean," she mumbled, her gaze focused on the bowl. She looked miffed with him, so he laughed again and caved in, unable to resist her.

"Ok, ok. What are the rules to this little game?" His voice was laced with curiosity; the velvet vibration was music to her ears.

"They're pretty simple." Her voice had a little shake in it; Naruto found it endearing. "We each take turns with a skittle and the other has to guess the flavour."

Oh _god_, she was going to faint. Naruto's interest was piqued, and he closed in towards her face. He eyed her lips and had this little quizzical expression.

"How am I supposed to guess?"

"Like this," she brought her hand to his eyes and closed his eye lids; her fingers traced down to his lips and she sat up on her knees. She took in a calming breath and leaned in, capturing his lips in a tender and shy kiss. She parted her lips and invited him quietly to explore her mouth.

He was very responsive, immediately accepting the invitation and gliding his tongue against hers. She let herself be carried away by the feel of his lips on her own, the heat of his arms when they wrapped themselves around her small waist.

She broke the contact, breathless. The first thing she noticed was the complete blissful look on his face, which brought a small cheer from her feminine pride. She waited for him to open his eyes and was met with the deep blue of his heated gaze.

"Cherry," he mumbled. Satisfied with his answer, she closed her own eyes and waited for him to choose his own little candy.

"Does that make us even?" He almost laughed at her quizzical expression.

"What do you mean?" She leaned back against the seat behind her and closed her eyes, licking her lips in anticipation. She heard the crunch inside his mouth and was nearly shaking with anticipation. Naruto let the sweet and sour taste wrap itself around his tongue before dipping his head and caressed her mouth with his own, demanding to be let in.

"You already guessed the lemon from yesterday," he murmured against her lips before taking them with his own. He let out a groan when her fingers tangled themselves in his hair, dispelling the intimate silence. He hadn't even noticed her wrapping her arms around his neck. He retaliated by pulling up the edges of her blouse and grazed her skin, which seemed to snap her out of the kiss-induced daze.

She reluctantly pulled away, breaking the intimate contact before his fingers got any further up under her blouse. She smirked against his lips and whispered, "Grape."

"Correct," he purred out; the vibration of his voice made her toes curl. He nipped her chin as she reached for another skittle, she pulled him down to the floor, ignoring the candies pressing on her back, and he let his weight press down on her, waiting for her to give him the ok to play.

He kissed her again, and she giggled when he didn't guess the right flavour.

"Who's idea was this?" he asked her between each breath, she snorted indignantly, Naruto laughed when she mumbled her sister's name.

"We should play more often." He grinned at her before taking another skittle between his lips. She blushed but meekly nodded when he stole another kiss from her willing lips.

It soon became obvious to him that Hinata was more than willing to lead and set the pace for them to follow, and he was grateful for that.

* * *

R&R if you feel like it

And no, they're not having sex. Sheesh! What kind of story do you think this is?! You pervs~

**B/N** …said the pot to the kettle. :P


	11. The proof is in the pudding

**A small crack in Perfection**  
_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer –_  
I do not own Naruto or any of its affiliated characters nor do I make monies off this Fanfiction, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Also, just for today, I do not own Alice, Chesire Cat or The Mad Hatter – They belong to the twisted mind of Lewis Caroll.

**AN **– Arg! I'm on a Nodame Cantabile kick lately . And wow, has it seriously been three months already? What have I been doing? *memory fills with classical music and the finds Chiaki and Nodame in the _Hentai Forest_...* Regardless! Check out my profile for the Dattebayo Challenge hosted on Perpetual159's NaruHina Fanfic Collection.

Thank you_, Jolly Green_ and _Perpetual159_, for the beta – I appreciate it very much.

**WARNING:** Dattebayo silliness. This is my submission for the Dattebayo challenge.

* * *

**Chapter 11**  
_The proof is in the pudding_

'_Mad Hatter, are you really mad?' _she thought while her finger lightly caressed the words on the page. The dents of the printed ink bubbled unevenly under the skin of her index finger and they felt sticky between the creases of the finger prints. Despite the tactile flattery, the question still lingered – was the Mad Hatter truly insane or just a very cynical and deeply insightful philosopher?

She sighed, her mind wandering off the whimsical question. Who really knew what mental state the Hatter was supposed to have? His existence was very much _illogical_. She flicked another page and quickly read through the passages, hunting for something specific.

'_Ah, here we go.,'_ she mused as she settled deeper into the ottoman, now back to its rightful place much to Naruto's dismay. The Cheshire Cat appears, throwing the O.C.D. Mad Hatter into a frenzied and even more disorganised chaos. The whole place is turned right side up, but the cat couldn't care less. It was a creature of chaos and a misfit through and through. Hinata smiled despite herself; the cat reminded her of Naruto. It was unpredictable, on several levels, and had no intention on excusing itself for messing up even the best laid plans. Well, in truth, as cumbersome and irritating the cat was, his purpose was the most important in this story.

Just as the author intended, Hinata imagined.

The more she thought about it, the more she realised _why_ Naruto reminded her of the Cheshire Cat. Just like Alice's thorn in her side, Naruto created a torrent of instability that infiltrated her life. Adding to that, she wasn't accustomed to the way he _moved_ everything around. It was almost forceful, shoving everything around until it was rearranged to his liking.

That almost made her angry. Not necessarily _at_ him, but more towards herself. It was her, if anything, that allowed him to take over and, even more so, she was helpless to stop his invasion when he looked at her with that smile. She had absolutely no control over herself or the situation when Naruto Uzumaki strolled into her personal space.

His energy, his confidence, naturally overtook everything he touched. He was so sure of who he was and where he was going, it infected her through and through. Not only did it pique her curious side, it was devastatingly attractive. She admired the fact there was rarely any doubt in his words, not a single inkling of fear in anything he did. It did something to her deep inside; it made dangerous things tick.

'_It's that smile,'_ she confirmed within herself. That smile was like that of the cat - full of promises, tricks and vague ambiguity that warned her to steer clear, but that she just couldn't stay away from. She realised in the past week that his chaos and her loss of control was something she had been craving for a long time.

Her life, since her accident, had always been under careful and tight control. Her purpose was always clear and she never questioned it. Despite the careful control she exuded over her little world, she overlooked the possibility of someone willing to break her. Naruto had made himself comfortable despite her objections, crawled under her skin and embedded himself in the back of her skull. The man had interrupted her peace and obliterated her sense of order, causing forcing her world to spin off its axis and crumble in the span of a week.

She wasn't sure how to defend herself against Naruto's affection without being swallowed by it. But did she really need to defend herself? Wasn't this something she wanted?

One more question to add to her lengthy list.

She carefully flipped another page; her eyes caressed the words as she skipped paragraphs. A soft smile played on her lips when she found one particular passage she favoured: _"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"_ Hinata whispered the question to no one in particular. She cleared her throat, taking on a deeper octave as she relayed the cat's innocent answer, _"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."_

That particular passage had more than one meaning, everyone knew that, but it was the first time she felt it _touched_ her, as though it would open a door deep within herself that she had never been entirely ready to open. Pressing her lips together, she tried to ignore the heated feeling deep inside her gut, but she couldn't help repeating the words inside her head.

Where _did_ she want to go in this little journey with Naruto? Did she _truly_ want to follow his chaos?

She let out a strange shaky contemplative sigh. Indeed, lately, she wanted to explore the new path she had wandered on, to explore it with _him_. She wanted to know, more than anything, where it would lead to - even if it _was_ terrifying.

Where would this path lead, exactly?

Yet another question that stumped her. The fear of the unknown was something she wasn't really used to considering everything in her life had been planned from the get-go. It was frustrating her more than she was willing to admit. She dismissed the questions and focused once more on the story.

The protagonist of this twisted fairy-tale has wandered away and is now lost in the strange woods of Wonderland. Hinata could picture Alice, standing on the path, in the dark shadows of the forest – frightened as she comes face to face with the stark reality that she is alone. But not for long, of course. The mysterious cat appears only to confuse the gentle Alice further.

Hinata could almost feel the increased frustration of the young woman as the cat went a round-about way to answer her. The young lady was futilely trying to make sense of an illogical world and her struggle amused the cat to no end. Hinata could relate to Alice's frustrations; like the Cheshire cat, Naruto seemed amused by her struggle in shedding her former self.

Well, not necessarily _amused_, but far too interested.

She looked up from the page and focused on the window as she continued the lines she had memorised so long ago and whispered again as Alice: _"I don't much care where."_ Hinata paused in her private rendering of Alice in Wonderland, her fingers pressed against the pages, and clenched the book close to her face. Pressing the open pages to her lips, she narrowed her eye as she thought about Alice's answer.

Until recently, she couldn't really remember what her life had been like. It was... well, it was _safe_, for the lack of a better word. Everything was planned, plotted out for her to step into her father's shoes. Her life wasn't filled with the struggles or worries of everyday people; it had been designed to be completely glitch-free. If she ever had to concern herself with anything, it was with conserving the consistency of her father's quiet approval.

But all that had changed recently with this sickness her father was afflicted with. The very _core_ of his existence was threatened by something he couldn't control and as if that had been the final push for him to realise how wrong he'd been all these years, he'd apologised for his efforts in preventing the return of her former self.

She couldn't quite make out what the meaning behind his begging for her forgiveness when it became obvious that he had no intention of allowing her to be anything other than what he wanted to mould. Not only was he only mildly remorseful, he was now more than just a little determined that she follow in his footsteps; like he _willed_ that the leadership of the company will fall to her without any question.

Despite his claim that she was free to choose, it was still just as her father had carefully _planned, _for several years.

She couldn't help but feel slightly resentful towards her father's efficiency. Had this happened two weeks ago, before she had laid eyes on the clown-faced Naruto at the phone kiosk, she would have accepted it for what it was - the passing of an era to the younger generation, an heir who was worthy of its crown.

She puffed her cheeks rebelliously; the notion left a sour taste in her mouth. _'This sounds like I'm inheriting a Clan from the old days, certainly not a business.'_

Their family had a long and proud history within the City of Konoha, something she couldn't exactly dismiss with her need to break free from the chains of her family's traditions. Up until now, she hadn't cared _where_ she ended up or how she got there – in all honesty, she had no interest in looking elsewhere.

Was that really what she wanted to do, though? Was it her own feelings to want to take over the Hyuuga Corporation and continue on with its mission, or was that just something her father had implanted in her subconscious while grooming her for the leader position?

She wasn't so sure anymore.

"_Then it doesn't much matter which way you go,"_ the sly cat replied to the confused and bewildered Alice.

"_... so long as I get SOMEWHERE."_ The heiress put the book down on her lap and let her head rest against the back of the ottoman, staring out of the window again. The rest of the passage played out in her mind, like an old record.

"_Oh, you're sure to do that," said the cat,_ _"if only you walk long enough."_

Hinata agreed with the cat at this point, but she also agreed to an extent with the young woman. Alice was trapped in strange and unfamiliar surroundings. So, truthfully, getting _somewhere,_ anywhere really, is better than the darkness and uncertainty of the forest.

Hinata paused in her reading, pursing her lips in thought. Getting anywhere just to get away from the maze seemed to suggest, to Hinata, that Alice was desperate to escape the _unknown_. The Cheshire would continue on, telling her that in either direction there were mad people, so it didn't matter where she went. Alice would refuse, stating she did not want to be amongst the mad.

Hinata let out a soft laugh and shook her head. She had to admire Alice's determination, but she failed to see the cat's point. In reality, everyone is mad to some extent. Hinata bit her lip slightly, thinking on her father and how she had ended up in his tangled web.

'_Yes... everyone is justifiably mad for the right reasons.'_

In the end, Alice would learn that it wasn't the destination that mattered, but how you got there and what you learned on the journey. The cat was far too clever for Alice... as was Naruto for her. Hinata put the book down again on her lap and frowned.

Had she been walking aimlessly, trying to get to a place she had no desire to go to?

Was that why she was still sitting here, at home? Was she so _unsure_ of herself and what she wanted that she was resorting to hiding from her responsibilities? No... no. It wasn't that... she didn't lack confidence in her ability to do her job.

So what was it? Was it because her planned destination was now _unwanted_?

"No," she said out loud, surprising herself. She settled further into her seat, sighing. It wasn't a question of it being unwanted, she realised after a little more thought – it was that it had _changed_. She still wanted to follow her father's footsteps in the business he built, but she wanted to break out of the mould – she didn't want to be _alone_ any longer.

The walls had definitely cracked, no thanks to her meddling siblings and Naruto. Despite their little plan, she still wanted her journey to continue as it was unfurling, and then maybe, just maybe, Naruto would be willing to come along too.

"Hinata," Naruto's voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she glanced his way as he approached her, "can you take a look at this and tell me if you are you happy with this design?" He wasn't looking at her; his brow was scrunched up in thought over his work. She'd recently discovered that she found it was _cute_ – the pensive Naruto. The way his lips pouted slightly, the hum he made and even the annoying habit of sucking air through the tiny gap between his front teeth was teetering on adorable.

'_I must be ill!_ _How is that even cute?'_ She sighed, which caught his attention. She had to stifle a laugh when he gave her a '_what's the matter'_ cock of the head before sitting down beside her.

She couldn't help but wonder if he would really want to come along on her journey of self discovery.

Hinata couldn't form the words in her mouth; her tongue felt heavy and uncooperative. She nodded at him when he glanced up from the paper he was unrolling carefully with his long fingers. She let her gaze linger on them, realising something about the man that was attached to them.

They were the physical representation of his journey; the extension of his ideals as an artist within the landscape industry. They were what allowed him to express his ideas, love and dedication with the use of a pencil, a piece of paper and a shovel full of manure. She envied them, those fingers – not because of the hidden talent, but because they were an intimate part of him that she would never truly understand.

Maybe it was childish of her to think like that, but she was utterly jealous of what they touched. She wanted them to be focused on _her_; her skin, her muscles, the heat of her want for him. She blinked, surprised at her sudden revelation. She regretted the feeling of possessiveness immediately.

The papers lay unusually flat on the coffee table. The draft had a strange type of paper that prevented it from rolling up on its own, like it was thicker than normal drafts. Only the corners furled up, resisting the urge to obey the make-up of its design. Naruto waited for her opinion, watching her carefully from the corner of his eyes. A small amused smile played on his lips as he noted how she intensely watched his hands.

'_That... that's kinda hot.'_ He could feel her gaze against his skin. Naruto felt a set of goosebumps crawling up his arm and he realised rather quickly that his thoughts were dangerously turning towards a road he knew Hinata would reprimand him for. He attempted to quietly clear his throat, forcing the Jiraiya-driven scenarios out of his mind.

'_Focus, Uzumaki... Focus on the dattebayo!'_

Hinata gave him a strange look. He froze – could she read his mind...? She let out a little snort and turned her gaze to the draft, forcing him to think that she really _could_ read his mind. He cleared his throat again and stared at the paper on the table.

Although Kiba had already fixed most of the minor details, this was more or less the final draft to be graphed by Sai. He heard a small gasp out of her and grinned. This was one of his best works; he had spent a lot of time picking this woman apart – never mind the fact that using and _placing_ all the flowers that she requested in the contract made his design even more difficult.

He had figured out in the end that this should be a garden of healing for the heiress. He knew that she wanted desperately to be forgiven for what happened with her mother and he made sure that it radiated peace and serenity. In the center of the garden there was a small shrine to pay her respect, surrounded by thick foliage and plants. It was isolated, but none the less very colourful. Here she could relax. Its purpose, however, was for her to forgive herself – he was sure she would achieve it there.

"It's going to be beautiful," she said, almost breathless. Naruto watched as her fingers trailed the penciled lines on the thin paper. He found it strangely alluring, how the delicate digits caressed the paper. He cleared his throat slightly, trying to ignore the impulse to grab her fingers and kiss the tips.

"Of course it is," he replied, "who do you think thought this up?" She had the urge to roll her eyes at the cocky tone in his voice. She should have known better, but she secretly enjoyed that self-assured aspect of his personality.

"Well, I'm satisfied with this." She barely had the words out before she noticed a gleam in his eyes, the air suddenly felt thick and electric.

She _gulped_.

"Oh?"

She had a bad feeling.

"Was it that easy to satisfy you?" His voice was thick with a tone she'd never heard before. He leaned in, quickly closing the space between them and rubbed the tip of his nose by her ear lobe, very lightly. She felt goosbumps crawl up from the base of her back and she pushed down a shudder of pleasure. She could feel his gaze travel down her neck and without really thinking she took in a deeper breath, forcing her breasts to press against the material of her blouse.

He hummed in approval.

She was _speechless_ at the obvious lewd stare and her unconscious reaction to it.

"Wh-wha-_what_?" She tried to regain some dignity by feigning innocence, but the damned stutter was back in full force and Naruto grinned like a cat. He'd completely caught her off guard again.

'_She... she's so cute,'_ he thought, quite pleased with himself.

"You heard me," he purred out, a whispered promise that made her toes curl. She barely had time to blink as the information processed itself at a snail's pace inside her head and in an instant, he was inside her space. His warm lips brushed against hers like feathers and she kept staring at him dumbfounded.

Taking advantage of the situation, Naruto demanded entrance to her slightly agape mouth and she obediently let him in. This seemed to snap her out of it and she mumbled something. He ignored her muffled pleas since there was no resistance coming from her petite fists. In fact, they had bunched up the front of his shirt and were pulling him towards her. Once he was leaned snugly against her, she let go of his shirt, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and sighed while her fingers deeply tangled themselves in his hair within seconds.

He grinned against her lips and delved deeper into the kiss, relishing the fact that all he could taste was _Hinata._

_

* * *

_

The persistent beeping of his laptop woke him from his light slumber; he rubbed his eyes and squinted against the light sneaking in through the closed bedroom curtains. He stirred, but he felt heavy under the duvet - his left arm numb from something heavy against it. He peeked from one eye and perked a brow while suppressing a grin.

There, tightly wound around him like a lost child, was his wife. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead, appreciating her happy sigh. The beep caught his attention again and he glared in its direction.

He shifted slowly from his comfortable position against the blonde and eyed the object that was dangerously close to disturbing the sleeping lioness. He felt a bead of sweat form on his temple as he carefully and stealthily untangled himself from her loving grasp.

It's not that he necessarily feared his _wife_, more like he feared Temari's _temper_ when she didn't get all her shut eye. His feet hit the carpet quietly and he spared a look over his shoulder to confirm she was still asleep. She stirred and her hand sought out his warmth, but her fingers found the band of his boxer's elastic. She pulled, making him freeze. She then let out a small groan that dangerously sounded like a giggle and the sharp snap of the elastic broke the patterned beeping of the computer. He grumbled, irritated with her hidden prankster nature.

'_Troublesome woman!'_

He somehow managed to escape her without any repercussions and he sighed almost in relief as he quickly made his way to his desk to pick up the laptop. Glancing over his shoulder once more to ensure that his wife had settled back into a deep sleep, Shikamaru picked up the computer and made his way into the living room.

Once settled, his fingers became a blur as he sifted through the data on the screen. The techs at White Snake were accessing Naruto's servers again from a new set of proxies; right where Shikamaru wanted them. He started a dump of all the data into a separate file so that he could peruse the incident at his leisure and began to track everything his opponent did.

After several seconds, he realized that all of the processes occurring on the server were too much for one tech to be causing. Regardless of how good Shikamaru was, he couldn't reliably track multiple attacks and come up with a way of breaking their security at the same time.

He needed help.

He immediately scratched Temari's name off the list; she was hell to deal with when woken early. He thought to call Kiba, but quickly thought better of it knowing that the dog owner was probably at one of Naruto's work sites. That left him with two options. Looking at the clock, Shikamaru did some quick subtractions and decided his brother-in-law in Japan had probably had enough rest... unless, of course, he'd been out at the clubs the night before.

_'Troublesome 'wingman' bullshit,'_ he thought.

No time like the present to find out. The pineapple haired man picked up his cell phone from the coffee table and hit the speed dial. There was a long pause on the line before it began to ring. On the second ring, a tired voice picked up the line.

"Yeah," was the simple greeting.

"Kankuro, I need you to jump onto Shadow server and help me with the incoming feed from port..." he trailed off and checked his screen to make sure he got the right digits, "eighty-two sixty-six." There was a two-second pause on the line before Shikamaru heard a sigh from the other man.

* * *

This certainly beats the lunch plans he had with Kiba.

Hinata let out a sigh under him as he kissed the length of her neck. Her fingers were tangled deeply in his hair and he groaned when she called his name very quietly against his ear – his fingers had meticulously unbuttoned most of her blouse without any objection from the heiress. He certainly hadn't expected such good fortune, but he wasn't about to refuse her offer.

He greedily licked at the pale white skin, sucked lightly on her pulse point and discovered it was a very sensitive spot as she squirmed under him and let out an effeminate moan. Hinata felt him grin against her neck; she was embarrassed she had reacted that way, but soon forgot about it when he found another sensitive area on her collar bone.

"Ah!" she gasped and there, the feel of his lips stretching into another grin against her skin.

"Hmm who knew you were so sensitive," he mumbled between hot breaths. She couldn't answer so she merely mewed strangely. He looked up from where he was diligently recording the taste of her skin and caught her heated gaze. Her blush was steadily building and she looked ravishing. He reached around and pulled at the elastic of her bun and freed the indigo hair from its restrictive prison. She bit at her lip, refusing to let him see the goosebumps that had raced across the back of her neck and perked her nipples. He'd seen it - he raised a brow and he had another infuriating smirk on his face.

'_He's definitely just like the damned cat.'_

She ignored him, her arms tightening around his shoulders and she let one set of fingers dance across the length of his back. He closed his eyes and for the first time, she was witness to a _lustful_ Naruto. His cheeks were tinged with a light pink and his brow knitted lightly as she explored the muscle hidden under the black dress shirt. She let herself scratch down the length of his back to see how he'd react. Even though it was light and he was still dressed, it felt like hot iron. He hissed at the burn, arching his back, which caused her to blink in curiosity.

"Careful, Hinata," he groaned with restraint and sought out her lips. He bit her lower lip and she moaned into his mouth when he swallowed them and tasted her again. At first she thought she'd hurt him, but soon realized she'd discovered one of his weaknesses.

This time it was him that felt her lips pull back into a grin.

She opened her mouth to say something witty, but before she could say anything, he settled between her legs and pushed against her heated sex – she was still wearing her pajama pants, but he could feel the heat of her arousal through them. It was her turn to hiss. Her fingers found the edge of his pants and she pulled out his tucked-in shirt. He leaned his forehead against the arm of the ottoman and held his lust in check. Her nails dug down at the skin of his back and he marched into her again, forcing out a groan from him. Right then, she felt a tingle between her legs that made her hitch her breath.

Her sex was starting to heat up, almost pulsing; she moaned his name as he pushed against her again. He whispered her name and she lost track of what happened next; that tingle again, this time it pulsed.

"Ooh," she hitched her breath again, her eyes closed tightly. She squirmed as Naruto licked from her collar bone to the mounds of her breasts and bit at the edge of her bra, snapping them lightly against the breast. She giggled, but it didn't last long as he thrust his hips against her again. The tingle came back, stronger, and she gasped.

"For fuck's sakes!" Naruto grumbled under his breath. He sat up quickly and mumbled more profanities under his breath. He untangled himself from his lover's fingers and cursed at the throbbing hard-on in his pants. Hinata gasped in surprise as she tried to process why her boyfriend had suddenly disappeared.

"What… why did you stop? " she was breathless, flushed and utterly turned on. Naruto reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his cell phone that was vibrating quite violently.

"Sorry… it won't stop ringing and it's coming from the emergency line." Hinata frowned, and then clued in. She turned beet red realizing that the phone was responsible for the persistent tingle she was feeling between her legs.

'_Oh… oh god!'_ She couldn't believe it; the cell-phone was now the _vibrator phone_ and she was mortified. Naruto gave her a strange look before he flipped the phone open and openly glared at it.

"What, Kiba. _What_ in god's name do you want?" he roared to the phone, openly irritated with the inconsiderate, persistent calls from his business partner.

Hinata thought she was going to pass out. She was positive there wasn't a hole big enough in this world that could swallow her and bury her mounting embarrassment.

* * *

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Kankuro slowly got out of his bed with a sigh while being careful not to disturb the small figure lying next to him. He kept his voice low as he got himself dressed. "Sounds big, Shika. Shadow server's not supposed to exist, ya' know."

The amused voice of his sister's husband came back through the headset. "What the enemy doesn't know just might kill them." The muscular brunette had to hold back a snort of laughter at the truth of that statement. Sparing the girl in bed one final glance, he closed the bedroom door and made his way to his computer room.

The high powered desktop was already on, so he had only to type in his password once he was settled into the chair. After the desktop came up, Kankuro quickly brought up his command prompt and opened a connection to the highly secret server sitting at Nara Corporate Solutions on the other side of the world. After another quick login, the server prompted him for a connection.

"Eight, two, six, six, right?" he queried.

"Right. Give me your read on what you see once you get in," ordered the lazy entrepreneur. What Kankuro saw was no surprise to him. The data on-screen looked like a straightforward case of corporate espionage at first glance, but Shikamaru _never_ called him for something so simple.

'_Time to play the Puppet Master.'_ After flipping on the coffee maker next to his monitor, Kankuro went to work.

"I've got it man," he said as his fingers got down to the serious business of creating a program to crack the enemy system on his second monitor while sifting through the data on the main one with his eyes. "It looks like someone's sticking their finger into a pie that ain't theirs..." he switched to another window and scrolled down the page, "more like several pies."

"Yeah, I've already got this feed dumping so we can go over it later. We're pretty sure we know what these guys are up to, but we need more proof," Shikamaru explained over the line. Kankuro reached over and replaced the coffee urn with his mug before continuing.

"So we're letting them slowly tighten their own noose?" he asked with a sadistic grin. Noting that his mug was almost full, he quickly switched the mug for the urn again. "Sounds fun."

Kankuro could hear the lazy man's smile as he spoke. "Once we have the information we need, we can hand it over to the police... and the judge isn't going to care how we got the information once it's in his hands. "So... you think you can get me into this system, Kankuro?" he asked.

Kankuro heard a sliver of hesitation in his friend's voice, but decided to ignore it for the time being. Instead, he opened yet another command prompt and started making small attacks on the system in question; things like spam and whatnot that wouldn't trip a big response from the automated security systems that were bound to be there.

What he saw looked promising. He carefully prodded all over to try and find a weakness. After several more seconds passed, he found what he was looking for... and so much more.

Computer programming is an art form more than it is a hard science. Just like there were a finite number of commands at one's disposal, so were there only so many colors for an artist to paint with... and just like every painter had a unique style, so, too, does every programmer. It was how one _used_ those resources that made the art.

"I don't think it'll be an issue, Shika," he replied with a smile. Apparently the smile carried over the phone, because Shikamaru immediately gave a relieved sigh. "We need to bring in an expert though. I just dunno if she's still willing to do this for you after you up and 'quit' the game when you married Temari."

"Oh? You seriously think we need to bring her in?" came the worried response from the earpiece.

Even though he knew it wouldn't be seen, Kankuro nodded his head and pointed at the imaginary Shika in front of him. "Yeah, she's perfect for this. She can be in and out of their system so fast, they'll never know she was there," he reasoned as he spun his chair to face the doorway. "From what she's told me, her boss lets her keep in practice… unlike a certain lazy bastard that has no similar excuse," he jabbed with an evil grin before taking a sip of his drink.

Back on his side of the Pacific, Shikamaru sighed and connected the call to conference.

"Ok, let me call Ino."

* * *

_Pretty Woman_ rang crudely from the cell-phone on Sakura's coffee table; the two women eyed the small turquoise contraption and debated on what to do. Sakura was the first one to decide by ignoring the phone and focusing on the television. Ino grabbed the strap with her toes and flicked the phone towards herself, flipping it open with one hand.

"Oh, what the hell…" she groaned. Sakura glanced her way, pink eyebrow raised in question at her distress. Ino ignored the third degree from her friend and pressed the talk button.

"What do you want?" The disdain in her voice was evident and Sakura instantly knew who was at the end of the line. There was only one man on this planet that could instantly irritate her – Shikamaru. She couldn't help but snicker openly at the other woman who shot her a glare that could kill.

Sakura instantly stilled, stopped chewing, dropped one of the chopsticks and gulped. Ino was a frightening woman at times and she could sense that this was one of these moments.

"What?"

Sakura could hear the male voice stutter at the other end of the line; the words weren't very clear, but she got the gist of it. He was asking something impossible again, by the way Ino's knuckles were cracking. The blonde stood up from the couch and walked out towards the kitchen.

"I said," Shikamaru pressed his finger against the bridge of his nose, irritated. This woman really got under his skin, "I'm in a tight spot and I need your help with something that is going to set fire to Konoha and destroy Naruto."

"Bullshit," Ino said very sweetly, enough to make Kankuro gulp nervously. The sound was loud enough to make her aware of him on the line, "Well, well – if it isn't my old pal The Puppet Master."

"Yo." The line crackled with the strange echo that told her he was still in Japan.

"Must be serious if you brought in the cavalry," she commented dryly as she leaned against the counter, crossing her arms. She peeked around the door frame and spied Sakura completely engrossed with _Wheel of Fortune_.

"Yeah, it seems that there's someone stirring up shit with the Konoha government and trying to make our dear leader look like a sack of shit." Shikamaru leaned back against his chair and looked up at the ceiling.

"Someone's trying to make Tsunade look bad?" Ino almost laughed, "Who could possibly-"

"White Snake." Kankuro cut her off. The two words sent a chill down her spine.

"Ok," she took a calming breath, "Ok, you got my attention."

* * *

"Sorry… I have to go to a lunch meeting with a new client." Naruto sighed dramatically. He pressed the palm of both his hands against the temple of his head and completely seemed dejected.

"I-I-It's fine, Naruto." Hinata was trying to sit up with a little bit of dignity she managed to scrape off the couch. He turned his head slightly towards her, catching a glimpse of her dishevelled state and he pressed his lips together.

'_That's really dangerous.'_

There was a strangled sound coming from her lover and she glanced his way. Her eyes widened a fraction before she saw him move as though he'd teleported himself from one area of space to the next.

"Na-Na-Naruto!" she squealed under the fresh attack of kisses, his busy fingers found the edge of her bra once again and she laughed, his hair tickling her nose.

"Where were we?" he mumbled while his lips sought the flesh of her breasts. His finger tips brushed the material and he heard her suck in a small breath,

"Ahh, I think we were _right about_-"

The phone vibrated again, sending a jolt of irritation through both Hinata and Naruto. He didn't bother getting up off his lover and simply flipped the phone open and let his most angry growl spit through his teeth.

"I'm fucking coming, quit blue-balling me. Shit!"

Hinata debated between reprimanding Naruto's colourful language or agreeing whole-heartedly with Naruto's reaction to Kiba's annoying interruptions.

* * *

"Sakura, I have to hit the office, I'll be back in a while." Before her friend could question why she was leaving, Ino had already slammed the door of her apartment shut and was three quarters the way down the stairs.

In Ino's world, there was only one unforgivable sin: threatening or harming her friends. White Snake had just crossed that line. If what Shikamaru had said was true, then it wasn't just Naruto or Tsunade that was about to be dragged through the mud, Hyuuga corporations had their hands dirty in this mess as well.

The drive from Sakura's to the office was thankfully quick and her mind had gone into overdrive the second she sat in her car and turned the key to make the engine rumble with life. There was a few things about Yamanaka Ino that even Sakura wasn't aware of – her past was something she didn't really reveal to anyone considering it was a heavily involved with criminal activity, no thanks to Shikamaru.

She stepped out of her car and quickly made her way through the Employee Only stairway. Her eyes lingered on the company's name as she pulled the door open, making her smirk.

'_The 'All-Seeing Eyes' of the Hyuuga indeed,'_ she mused.

Her mind wandered to a memory as she climbed the stairs, it was something she would never forget. The previous President of the company had truly taken the motto to heart. She could still remember her first day at Hyuuga Corp. Walking into that huge office and sitting across the desk from the imposing figure of the white-eyed man. What had floored her was being told, point blank, that he was well aware of her past indiscretions before asking what she intended to do as a member of his company.

She remembered staring open-mouthed at the man for almost a full minute before she was able to find her voice to answer. Ino had profusely reassured Hiashi that those days were behind her, only to be thrown for another loop when he carefully hinted at the notion that she was _not_ to retire.

She greeted the few workers that passed her as she made her way to her office. She reached over and pulled her keys from her purse before reaching the door, she quickly glanced around before letting herself in. There, in the corner of the small space stood an unassuming wooden light stand – it didn't attract attention and it was decrepit looking enough that no one would even think of taking it out of her office. Office Supply Rats were the _worst_.

Sparing a glance towards the doorway, she quickly unlocked the cabinet underneath the stand, opened the door, and turned on the computer hidden within before closing and locking the compartment again. The blond kept her usual cheery expression in place as she casually closed her door and returned to her desk. Seated once more, Ino's expression turned serious as she reached under her desk and depressed a hidden button, causing her computer monitor to change to the white-text-on-black-background command line of the hidden computer.

She quickly, yet reluctantly, connected to her ex-partner's server and began her infiltration of White Snake's systems. Shikamaru had given her very simple, straightforward instructions: Get in, find out when they were planning to start their attack on Tsunade or Naruto, and get the hell out. If for some reason she was discovered, she was to completely screw up their terminals and keep them shut down while the Puppet Master and Lazy Ass swiped all the data.

It was easy as pie, as some would say, for the legendary hacker Mind Switch.

As she ran into the heavy security measures of the server, she let her subconscious take over the hack. She used the template that Shikamaru had provided to wiggle her way past the security algorithms in place while noting any variations she found for future reference. Ino shook her head as she returned to the past in her mind. Hiashi apparently knew of her and her 'teammates' and hoped to get all three to help him protect his network. Information had been repeatedly leaked to their competitors and he wanted it plugged.

Kankuro and Shikamaru had opted out of helping, but she and Chouji still pulled it off on their own without alerting anyone that they were even looking. It had taken her almost six months to track down the source, but she'd caught the five idiots responsible and earned the Co-editor position. After that, it had only been a matter of time before she proved her skill to everyone and earned herself the position of Editor.

A position that, thankfully, rated its own private office.

Yes, life was good. So good, in fact, that she almost didn't realize that she'd infiltrated successfully into one of the unused terminals attached to the enemy mainframe. After doing a small jig in her chair, she switched back over to her work computer and sent her team a colourful _'Mission Complete'_ with her own personal flourishes.

* * *

Shikamaru's inbox chime caught his attention.

"...sending you the notes on them right..." Shikamaru heard the click of a mouse over the line, "now."

The lazy tech just shook his head at the time lag between the phones before opening the e-mail. "Got it right here." He opened the folder and read the names of the files inside: Spider Spit, Death Flute, the Kon Siamese Twins, Bulldozer, and Bones.

"So who are they?"

Shikamaru could hear the sound of Kankuro typing rapidly over the phone as he responded. "They're a group of hackers that go by the name of 'Sound Five.' Well, really 'Sound Four' now that Bones is dead." Even more typing and a few clicks could be heard as he continued.

Shikamaru browsed through the data he'd been sent and gave a long, low whistle. The 'notes' that Kankuro's contact in the Internet Crimes Task Force had so kindly shared with them contained detailed graphs, saved chat conversations, a color coded map with confirmed and suspected attacks, photographs and criminal records on each member of the group. Shikamaru zoomed in on one of the culprits and instantly recognised her from that morning – she was the loud mouth that was threatening Kiba in the lobby. So it really was them. He shook his head in disbelief. If half of what was in these files was true, then Kankuro's contact had just handed him White Snake on a platter right out of the starting gate.

That made Shikamaru a very happy man.

Another chime caught his attention – Ino had good news for him, too; she was in and she hadn't been detected from what she could tell. She had taken over the enemy system as flawlessly as ever. The Ino avatar at the bottom of the message flipping two birds was ignored by both men as standard procedure.

"Fuck she's fast," Kankuro praised at the other end of the phone while Shikamaru nodded in agreement. Ino was very dangerous. Shikamaru hung up his phone and engrossed himself in the data he'd been sent.

* * *

To say that Kiba was _uncomfortable_ was putting it mildly.

There was no real way to properly express his strong _dislike_ of the man that stood before him. There were several factors - it was the fact that the meeting room was small, overcrowded, and full of stinks and sticky substances that he didn't care to identify. Its claustrophobic darkness accented with the vials of dark inks wasn't helping with his discomfort any either... but without a doubt, Sai was the focal point or the unpleasantness.

Now, the reason he was standing here, instead of Naruto as originally planned, was somewhat of a mystery to him. Naruto had been late for a meeting between himself and a new client, so he had persistently tried to get in touch with the man via the cell phone to no avail. So he used the emergency number, only to be deafened by a highly irate Naruto.

'_Son of a bitch, I had it unbuttoned!'_ The muttering was like a curse when he had Kiba in his car. The evil glare he kept sending his way had him really openly repenting for whatever he had done wrong.

So, Naruto had the brilliant idea to send him here as a punishment.

He really hated him.

Truly, with a great passion rivalled only by the love for his dog.

Naruto's assistant fidgeted, his memory surrounding Sai over several years was enough to traumatise any sane heterosexual male. Any psychologist would certainly get their money's worth of problems if they ever managed to get this ghost out of the office and into the sun; although he could potentially burst into flames once the rays touched his skin.

Not that he was insinuating that Sai was a vampire... No, no... he wasn't suggesting that the man was a source of evil or the un-dead by any means. It was more like he was one of the Dungeon and Dragon twerps who never outgrew the phase in High School and still played it twenty-four seven in their parent's basements.

He certainly carried the look – small black beady eyes, ghastly pale white skin, hair so black you didn't know if it was clean or dirty... at least he didn't smell. Kiba scrunched up his face in disgust as he recalled the first time Naruto introduced him to the private staff member.

Why Naruto still asked this man to work for him was beyond any plausible sane rationality he could justify. So, he had stopped trying to decipher Naruto's lack of logic years ago.

"What can I do for you?" Sai's voice sent chills down his back; his eyes were focused below the belt, making Kiba fidget again.

"I have all the drafts from Naruto, he wants them done up as soon as possible so he can start designing." He squinted his eyes, trying to ignore the sudden drop of comfort in the room.

"I'll get them ready." Sai leaned over his desk, grabbed the rolled up drafts from Kiba and smirked, letting his gaze linger uncomfortably on the man standing before him. He couldn't resist.

"If you want them today, all you got to do is let me draw your pe-"

"Fuck no." Kiba almost twitched violently before twirling on the ball of his feet and quickly walked out the door, ignoring Sai's chuckle.

* * *

Kabuto had some excellent news, according to the message just e-mailed to him.

Orochimaru grinned, licked his lips in anticipation as he waited for his assistants to arrive for a meeting that would change the little fantasy work Tsunade had achieved. Soon, she would be brought down by her own _weaknesses_ and he would be there to pick up all the pieces that fell to the ground, claiming what was rightfully his.

It didn't hurt, either, that his nemesis's son in the landscaping business was going to be brought down in a glorious blaze of fire that would destroy the name Uzumaki to the core of its existence.

"Yessss, a glorious day indeed." He muttered before he heard a soft knock at his door.

* * *

**R & R – TBC**

Comments, likes and dislikes appreciated.  
I'm having a baby! Rejoice!

PS - Go check out Jolly's Side Story "Wingman" to ASCIP once he posts it! It involves the OC mentioned in this chapter!


	12. Those meddling kids!

**A Small Crack in Perfection**  
_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer_  
I do not own _Naruto_ nor do I make any monies off this Fanfiction. All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

**AN** - I'm on maternity leave as of Friday! You may see a couple of updates before my baby's out and about, I got three weeks at home twiddling my thumbs - might as well write!

Thanks to my betas – _perpetual159_ and _Jolly_. These next couple of chapters wouldn't be what they are without their wit, ideas and support.

* * *

**Chapter 12**  
_Those meddling kids…!_

Hinata didn't think this particular thing would happen today when she got into the office, leaving Naruto behind in her home to overlook and begin her private garden. Most of her home was going to have to be renovated to accommodate her request, but she was prepared for the costs and the headaches. Plus, he had been very insistent that she leave – something about the noise, dust and the amount of people in the home.

To be completely honest, Hinata was entirely unaware of the fact that _Naruto_ didn't want his men to ogle her while she went about her day. In his dignified opinion,_ that_ package was his and his alone – Jiraiya had often said that he wasn't good at sharing and that stubborn streak hadn't disappeared over the years.

Now, the particular problem she was facing developed when she opened her big mouth and asked advice on her relationship and how far it _should_ be progressing. The thing is, Hinata was still very v_irginal _in the ways of love, having never really travelled that particular path in her life, let alone know when it was _okay_ to strip down to her birthday suit and pull a _Venus de Milo_ on her childhood crush.

It wasn't improving matters considering EroHinata was having a _field day_ inside her mind. Scenarios were rabid – such as leaving some edible panties on his pillows, stripping to her skimmies and laying on his bed with chocolate lotion lathered up over her breasts, enticing him with a mirror practiced _come-hither_ look that would melt him on the spot, and so on.

Well, she hoped it did improve. So far, it was confirmed by EroHinata that she looked constipated or excessively angry when she sneak attacked her sexy gaze on her bedroom mirror. She assumed it would be more natural once she was face-to-face with him in the right situation… or so she tried to convince herself. She could almost hear the sex-starved personality snort indignantly at her feeble attempt to think she was some _sexy beast_, as Naruto had casually teased once.

The most daring fantasy, which her perverted counterfeit self had mustered up in a lust induced delusion, was a scene where she would slip inside the shower while he was innocently washing and just go for the kill, but her pride had frozen her lust in its tracks. The Heiress was scandalised – no, _traumatised_ – by the erotic scenarios strolling casually through the young woman's mind.

Was this honestly _normal _after such a short time of dating a man?

'_It couldn't be…'_ she thought with a sigh. _'Didn't couples have some kind of book or rituals to follow on the proper times to do things?'_

EroHinata gleefully announced to her that, '_No, there is no such thing,'_ and to '_Stop being such a prude and take him already!'_

That was crude, and very crass if she did dare say so herself. Hinata couldn't rely on that particular voice in her head – it had far too much influence on her lately and she was worried she was being led in the wrong direction. Without a moment's hesitation, she decided that she couldn't trust herself. She needed help outside of her obviously warped logic and looked for salvation elsewhere.

But now, she was regretting it. Nothing was worth _this_ torture.

"Oh, he's been thinking about it – no doubt in my mind," Sakura mumbled through her mouthful of strawberry salad.

Hinata blinked while Hanabi merely nodded in agreement, as though it was the most obvious thing.

"Now, the question is, are _you_?" Hanabi pointed at her sister with a fork full of lasagna.

Hinata huffed and blushed a deep crimson that amused Sakura to no end. To Sakura's surprise, Naruto had uncovered a woman under all those layers of hard-ass and was slowly turning her back into someone she recognized. The strawberry blonde woman shook her head while the pale-eyed girl tried to recover a little dignity.

It was obvious to anyone that Hinata had been struggling lately with the idea of taking her lover to the next step. Naruto was practically sex-on-wheels lately and exuding pheromones to make any girl go swirly-eyed. Guess that's what happens when a boy is in love – untouchable equals desirable.

It was pretty cute watching her suffer under their teasing – Naruto had been correct in his observation that Hanabi was a force to be reckoned with. She caught on without even a hint and went with it, as was the case here.

"Oh, quit being such a prude." Hanabi poked her this time, causing bits of sauce to stick to Hinata's blouse. The eldest sister narrowed her eyes dangerously; a warning that would have most people running out of a room, but her sister ignored her with expert ease.

"I'm not being a _p-p-prude_!" she retorted, slapping the offending utensil away from her.

Sakura burst out laughing; it was rare to see her boss so relaxed for once. Hinata had finally crawled out of her hole and was well enough to come to work. Although, she was sure that the girl needed a break from Naruto's intensity.

"Twenty-five and _still_ a virgin," Hanabi mumbled in disbelief. Hinata gasped and Sakura nearly choked on her olive.

"Are you serious? She's so hot-looking! How is that even possible?" the assistant managed to spit out between painful coughs to clear the item from her throat.

"I'm _what?_ Sakura that's-"

"Oh, extremely serious. Worst thing is that, I feel sorry for all those contraceptive pills wasted every month." Hanabi cut off her sister's rant and crossed her arms in thought. "I'm sure she's been diligently saving herself-"

"_Hanabi!_" Hinata half-shouted in horror. "You know very well I used those to clear up complexion issues I've had since my teen years!"

"Sure, _complexion issues_. Let's pretend that's the reason and not the one that rhymes with _itch_," her sister chirped.

Hinata choked oddly and Sakura could only laugh again as the two sisters bickered back and forth over what could and couldn't be revealed at work and in front of their co-workers.

"I figured she was into hardcore stuff, like S & M. She's so mean with everyone – it's surprising, to be honest," Ino piped in innocently while walking by.

The heiress watched the blonde stroll away with her mouth agape. Ino turned the corner only to disappear before Hinata could deny the wild assumption. The editor was completely unaffected by the silence she'd thrown the little party into.

Hanabi was the first to break the odd silence – bursting with laughter. Sakura tried to continue eating her salad, but couldn't figure out how to open her mouth without laughing... so she just stared at the table and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Several seconds ticked by. Hinata was at a loss for words when she heard the inevitable.

"What's the safety word you use…?" Sakura asked, deciding that her curious nature was stronger than her sense of safety.

_Oh. My. God._

"I certainly am _not_ into S & M and there is_ no safety word_!" Hinata pressed her palm against her forehead and groaned. This conversation had completely gone out of hand.

"It's _Banana_, I bet," Hanabi piped in without missing a beat.

Sakura cackled and Hinata slumped in her chair, giving up on having a mature conversation. Her serious query was now being mocked and belittled by her close friends and family. She'd lost total control once more and she could barely keep her blush from expanding as it was!

"With Naruto, _Orange_ would be a better fit," Sakura giggled while Hanabi looked perplexed at the comment. "That guy's got a weird obsession with the colour. You never know…" Sakura trailed off as Hanabi made an _O_ with her mouth in understanding. Suddenly the younger woman had a strange glint in her eyes that made Hinata brace herself with worry.

"She does have all those silk scarves in her dresser." Hanabi smirked.

"Oh _really_…?" Sakura drawled out, eyes sparkling with gossip-y interest.

Hinata was beyond scandalised at this point. This _had_ to stop!

"Those are for _dressing_, not _sexing_!" Hinata shouted quickly without thinking. She gasped and the girls stopped moving in shock. Hinata's vulnerability was becoming apparent – she wasn't used to being barraged like this.

"Man, I would have paid good money to see Naruto walk in just then," Sakura whined in disappointment. _"Sexing? Is that even a word?" _she mimicked Naruto's tone almost to perfection.

"Agreed, it would have been priceless," Hanabi nodded, "I bet she would have fainted."

"Just like the good old days…" Hinata's assistant sighed with nostalgia.

"Can we just please get back on the subject at hand?" Hinata felt like slamming her head onto the desk; she was absolutely miserable.

"Right, _'How to fuck Naruto 101_'," Sakura said casually before she took another mouthful of lettuce, chewing carefully.

Hinata was starting to seriously consider firing her.

"You're both adults," Hanabi cut in – she could see her sister was starting to lose her patience, "it goes without saying that you move up in intimacy when you're ready. It could take five years, it could take two hours."

Sakura nodded. "Plus Naruto's pretty thick with that stuff. You'll need to be real clear on your intent or what you want." She snapped the lid to her container shut, putting it back in her purse. "Barney Style would be your best bet with him."

"Barney Style?" Hinata was confused at the term.

"Real simple-like – meaning, very direct. And you'll probably have more success with a _hands-on_ approach, if you catch my drift." Sakura couldn't help the grin while wiggling her eyebrows. This was priceless! She didn't know a human could turn that shade of red.

She got the drift. _'Take the initiative?' _Oh, no no no no! That was too bold, even for Hinata. It had taken so much effort just to kiss the man—

"Took her ages just to kiss him, how is she supposed to pull that off?" Hanabi finished her sister's thought without knowing.

Hinata narrowed her eyes dangerously, though she was _very_ curious to hear the answer.

"_What! Are you serious_?" Sakura ushered her voice in disbelief.

Hanabi nodded as Hinata looked away, a little irked that they were reacting this way. Sakura suddenly realised they were dealing with a _girl_ inside the body of a _woman_ in love. This was a bit more complicated.

"Well…" Sakura leaned back against her chair, the creak of the wood distracting Hinata for a moment, "that's not something we can really help with. You need to decide for yourself if it's what you want to do – to follow the mood of things and read your partner to see if he's ready for that, too."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you two, but it's not that obvious for me," Hinata quipped dryly.

The two girls blinked at the sudden confession. Time to be more _direct_ with these two, Hinata was done taking their light banter.

"Since it's _so_ obvious to you two, let me start with you, Sakura," she asked, her tone laced dangerously with impatience.

With the invisible finger pointed at her, Sakura couldn't look at her boss – since when had Hinata picked up sarcasm?

"How did you know you were ready? I need an example to compare my own feeling in this situation."

The air had gone cold in the room and Sakura's sense of danger was screaming: _'Answer her or she's going to fire your ass!'_

"That's a pretty good question - and a very difficult one," was all she could think to say to stall the increasingly irritable woman.

Hinata was starting to think she was in a hopeless situation. She could sense the other woman stalling for time. She needed to know if what she had been wanting emotionally was something normal, and warranted the urge to possess Naruto at a sexual level. The real issue was that she wasn't sure how to bring it up without coming across as… a _complete_ pervert.

"What about…" Hanabi started only to be cut off by a familiar voice from behind her.

"You know, love and lust are pretty similar things." Ino appeared out of nowhere again. She slipped her thin-framed glasses from her face to the top of her head and paused next to her boss. Hinata was startled by the unexpected visit and clearly _eeped_ at the woman – the blonde ignored her and continued her speech. "One just means more than the other and makes the experience a little bit more euphoric." She put her hand on the heiresses' shoulder and smiled at her, which gave Hinata a strange sense of comfort.

"Sex isn't a pivotal point in a relationship. Lots of people have one night stands, some even make a living out of sex acts," she continued as the girls turned thoughtful listening to her advice. "If you want to jump him, then you're ready. If the thought of it scares the shit out of you, then you're not – he'll understand if he truly cares for you."

Crass, but to the point. Ino wasn't one to tiptoe around a subject for too long and the girls had been torturing the poor woman for nearly two hours.

"You could always strike his pressure points if he acts like an asshole and put him into a well deserved coma," Hanabi suggested, quite nonchalantly.

"You're not helping," Ino deadpanned.

Hanabi shrugged her off.

"Well, it doesn't scare me, not at all…" Hinata calmly said. She'd been in love with him since her childhood – despite the fact that she had promptly forgotten about him. "My question still stands. I want to know how one decides if they are ready for that... so Sakura, how did you know for your first time?"

"Ah… well… things were a little chaotic back then. I was young, he was young and life seemed far more dramatic and serious than it actually was." She scratched the back of her head and leaned back a little against the chair while trying to recall the moment of her decision.

"You did it on a whim?" the Heiress asked, quite directly.

Sakura blushed. Hinata wasn't off the mark. She was completely dead on.

"Ah, well… it's more compl-"

"With Sasuke it was pure _love_," Ino cut her off again. "She would have fucked him four ways to Sunday despite the fact that he didn't give her the time of day most of the time."

"Ino!" the pink haired woman yelled out in surprise.

Hinata wasn't sure who Sasuke was, but she figured it must've been a torrid love affair by how Sakura was shocked into speechlessness.

"Oh stop being so coy – it's no secret!" Ino scoffed, ignoring the glares. "With her second tryst in the art of sex, it was entirely on a whim," Ino confirmed without skipping a beat.

"She took complete advantage of Naruto when she was feeling rejected and fucked his brains out because he was available and willing."

Sakura's mouth snapped shut. The conversation had just taken a terrible turn and before she could reach over to choke Ino into silence, the blonde managed to finish her sentence without thinking about the consequences.

"Poor bastard even knew she was doing him to get back at Sasuke, but he went with it like a big_ fucking_ idiot."

Sakura groaned, Hinata raised her eyebrows so high they almost disappeared, and Hanabi frowned, as though she was missing something obvious by the way everyone was reacting.

"I don't know who the biggest moron of the two was: Sakura for being such a_ heartless cunt_ and taking advantage of his feelings, or Naruto for forgiving so easily after six years with her." Ino just kept babbling… and _babbling_. There was just no end to it!

"I didn't mean for it to happen like that!" Sakura cut her off.

Ino only rolled her eyes in a _what-ever-let's-you-sleep-at-night_ way that infuriated the young woman.

"I did have feelings for him! I really did!"

"Not feelings of _love_ you hypocrite! You only felt like it was more because he confessed to you and _you_ took advantage of his sorry ass after he got out of the hospital." Ino was pointing at the woman, who had shrunk down in her chair. She knew she was right.

"The worst part of your charade is that on the night Sasuke left, you were screaming for him to take you with him while he was beating Naruto into a coma!"

It dawned on all of the ladies, quite suddenly, that the subject at hand was _very awkward_ and completely taboo.

Sakura slumped in her seat and sighed while Ino mumbled an apology for bringing up the ghosts of the past and sheepishly looked over to the current love interest of Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata was staring at the floor repenting for even bringing up the subject. Although curious to hear more on this titbit of the shrouded past, it had hurt her for some reason – more than she anticipated, but it was from her own doing.

She couldn't be upset with their history and she had to get over the bitterness swimming in the pit of her stomach caused by the fact that, although she had never shared herself with someone, Naruto had already given himself to another woman.

"That was years ago, Hinata," Sakura tried to reassure her, but it was obvious that Ino's bluntness had done its damage. "He broke up with me when it was obvious to him I was using him – I broke his trust and his heart."

Sakura looked at her very seriously. "One thing you can be sure of, Hinata, is that he cares very deeply for you. You can see it right away just by looking at him."

Ino's damage was done, Hinata looked unsure.

"If you're that worried about taking the next step, you need to talk to him about it. Nothing we say here will reassure you – only he can."

Hinata nodded. It was good advice. Regardless of the girl's past with her boyfriend – she decided she needed to speak with Naruto.

_Tonight_, for sure.

* * *

Naruto stared at his cell phone, and Shino adjusted his dark glasses before clearing his throat to catch his attention.

"Sorry to disturb you from the staring contest with your LED screen, but I need to discuss this _today_."

Naruto blinked. _'Oh, right._'

"I apologize. Where were we?"

Shino narrowed his eyes, but the blond couldn't see it. There was something unsettling about the entomologist. Maybe it was the long lab coat he wore twenty-four seven, or the sunglasses that glinted ominously when he seemed irritated with his employer. Or maybe it was that one time when Naruto went to the lab to speak with him and found him covered with little beetles – willingly, mind you – and didn't remove them the whole time he was there.

Naruto had the _hee bee jee bees_ ever since, but the man was an expert in his field and was his secret weapon in the business. Naruto used insects, friendly ones, to keep the natural balance of his home gardens in perfect shape.

"What's the plan for this garden?" Shino was quick to get to the point, as he disliked being away from his lab longer than he needed to.

"Did you look over the vegetation we're going to use?"

"Yes, after reviewing the list you provided, I have decided that the best option for this set-up is to breed my domesticated coccinellidea as per the norm." Shino looked over the workers, seemingly interested in the skeleton born of Naruto's fruits of labour. "I will train Miss Hyuuga on the life cycle and needs of the insect to keep the fauna balanced."

"Those are the Lady Bugs, right?" Naruto didn't know all the fancy names, but he knew his bug specialist's preferences.

"Yes, if you want to plainly call them that."

Shino adjusted his glasses again and Naruto could feel it. He was about to get _the speech_...

"Coccinellids are typically predators of Hemiptera, such as aphids and scale insects." Shino pulled a small tube from his pocket where a red insect crawled around in the glass confinement as the entomologist brought the specimen closer to his face in observation.

Naruto blinked, not sure if he should be concerned with his lack of surprise when Shino actually yanked out bugs from his pockets. Although, in all honesty, he wouldn't be surprised if he could mind control the things to do his bidding someday, or... he wouldn't put it past him, anyway.

"They are commonly yellow, orange, or scarlet, with small black spots on their wing covers, black legs, head and antennae. A very large number of coccinellid species are mostly, or entirely, black, grey, or brown and may be difficult for non-entomologists to recognize as coccinellids. Conversely, there are many small beetles that are easily mistaken for coccinellids, such as..."

The blond's eyes glazed over. He'd heard this speech a few hundred times already and he was starting to know it by heart.

"The tortoise beetles." Naruto completed the sentence before Shino could continue, causing the bug specialist to stop speaking. There was an awkward silence between the two men.

"Ah, sorry, Shino. I didn't mean to interrupt you." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, trying to soothe the beast that was dangerously close to being unleashed. There was something creepy about the calm man, almost eerie in his silence and observation of the world.

"Hmm," was the only thing the entomologist managed to reply before Naruto's cell phone rang.

"Hold that thought." He pointed at his colleague before flipping the phone open.

"Hello, hawtness!" he exclaimed with a cheesy grin.

Hinata stuttered on the other end of the line. She wasn't quite used to his nicknames just yet and his unpredictability on when he used them made her feel out of sorts. On the other hand, Naruto found it awfully cute the way she didn't know how to react.

"When will the workers be done for the day?" she asked quietly. Naruto raised a brow, was she that eager to come home?

"Uh, maybe a couple of hours. Why?"

"I need to talk to you."

_Oh god_. The dreaded words. This only meant negative or horrible things that Naruto knew he needed to carefully tread around.

"About...?"

"I can't say right now," Hinata mumbled. He could hear a load of feminine voices cackling in hilarity, flooding the background.

"Ah, well... okay. I'll see you in a couple of hours then."

"Okay."

"Eh… okay." Naruto frowned. _'This is awkward.' _

"Bye."

"Bye." Naruto flipped the phone off and narrowed his eyes. He wondered what he had done recently to deserve the '_we need to talk_' speech. He couldn't think of anything off hand, but then again... he was a little thick headed.

"Shall I continue or do you wish more private time with your phone...?" Shino cut off his troubled thinking. The blond nodded and looked at his phone one last time before putting it away again.

"As you know, the specimens will have to be kept in a cold temperature to force them into hibernation; I will have to train her on how to make the wings sticky so that they cannot fly about the home outside the garden..."

Naruto stopped listening.

Just what had he done this time?

* * *

It was barely 10 p.m. and her career was on the brink of destruction.

The lamp on Tsunade's desk flickered, casting cold shadows across the wooden desk and various trinkets she kept around to remind herself of her fleeting past. Her gaze lingered on the yellowed picture of her long dead husband before she shook her head slightly.

"What would you do, Jiraiya?"

She sighed. The dead couldn't solve her problems, _or_ get her out of them. If it hadn't been for Nara, they would be eyeballs deep in sour pickles. Even with the warnings and the preparations, things were getting ugly really fast.

"You're still in deep shit, blondie."

No matter how she looked at it, these _rumours_ were going to kill her chances at re-election this year as well as destroy her well-maintained reputation. She had a lot of skeletons in her closet and they were supposed to be completely out of the public eye.

She leaned her elbows against the wood of her desk and crossed her fingers, leaning her chin onto them. She narrowed her eyes at the television, slowly displaying her indiscretions to the citizens of Konoha.

_'Unconfirmed sources report that our treasury had funds siphoned and moved to personal accounts – these accounts are reported to belong to none other than Tsunade Senju, our Mayor. It's also been reported that this would not be an unusual move from our Mayor, as she has struggled with a sever bout of gambling that nearly bankrupted her almost thirteen years ago. She was forced to resign from her prestigious medical appointment with Konoha's neurosurgeon department...'_

"Hmm…" Their information was pretty much on target, but she hadn't siphoned the funds, though. That bit was incorrect. Nara had pointed out a few weeks ago that there was something being used through the Uzumaki servers to transfer the funds from the City accounts to an offshore account under her name. It had been a shock to her when they traced it back to Orochimaru, although she couldn't say she was entirely surprised. The man had been trying to take over the city for as long as she could remember.

What _did_ amaze her was the complicated thinking that went behind the scheme, even dragging down her godson – Naruto. His father was the undeclared rival to the white-skinned corruptionist. That man just couldn't let go of the past, unwilling to release his grudge and stubbornly let it spread to another generation.

"He's dead, you old bitter snake," she spat out, as though her long lost friend was in the room listening. He could potentially be – she wouldn't put it past him to have her office bugged.

So far there was no mention of the funds travelling through Naruto's business. Luckily, he had agreed to play possum at her request, endangering not only his business, but his reputation. She'd make sure he was compensated somehow...

At least there was no mention of her drinking habits. She was sure they would link that to her gambling and the disappearing treasury. She was a recovered alcoholic... but once a drinker, you never leave the stigma behind. Always haunted by the need, the feel of release from drinking.

She'd kill right now for a large bottle of spiced sake.

How would Konoha citizens take on the truth that their hard working representative was nothing but a low life with a fancy title? Not well, she was sure.

She leaned back against her chair and neatly folded her arms behind her head before frowning. Orochimaru could be suspicious of their knowledge – he could know that they were on to him. So they were playing along, letting him think he had the upper hand. She was willing to let her good name slide in the mud, anything to capture this idiot in the throes of his own greed.

She flicked to another channel before shutting off the television. Pivoting in the chair, she looked outside her window from the office overlooking the city – the night was clear, silent, and showed no signs of the shit-storm that was about to land at her doorstep in a couple of hours.

Her thoughts were disturbed by the simple low ring of her cell. She dug it out of her right blazer pocket and hummed out a greeting.

"We're tracking their movements." The man on the other end of the line didn't waste a second - she could hear the click of computer keys.

"The news is already on this," she spat out, suddenly feeling helpless against this attack.

"We both knew it was going to happen sooner or later. They're leaking the information in a way that's forcing the media to dig deeper into your past."

She could almost see him shake his head, their unseen enemy was crafty.

"Best to stay low and roll with it, we need to catch 'em in the middle of this."

She hummed in agreement before hearing him add in: "Even with outsider help, and all that data he transferred to us, there are lots of _maybes_, but not enough _Fuck Yeah's_ to nail him solid with all the slithering in the accounts."

It was true that Nara had provided a lot of valuable information that had given them the advantage – all thanks to the Hyuuga subordinate that hacked into the White Snake main frame of business. Her data downloads had nearly filled in all the gaps, but now they needed to catch them in the act, even if that meant playing bait and victim with the news media and destroying her career.

She was willing to do anything to prevent that mad man from taking office. Anything.

"Keep me updated, Yamato."

Her phone slid across the desk, the plastic item making an odd sound before coming to a full stop. She eyed the darkness again, gritting her teeth in frustration.

How much longer would she suffer under Orochimaru's wish to destroy everything from their past?

* * *

He wasn't there.

Inside her chaotic home Hinata frowned, wondering where he could have gone considering their conversation. She had made it _clear_ that she needed to speak with him. She shouldn't really be surprised, to be honest; he wasn't one to comply with rules.

She spun on her heels after quickly assessing the mess in the living room. She could see the layout of the garden, but she couldn't quite picture what it would look like. She didn't have the head for it, she supposed, hence why she hired Rasengan Landscaping and didn't tackle the project on her own.

It wasn't long before she circled around to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She sat at the island in the middle of the room and couldn't help but feel the weight of the silence that she once welcomed in her home. Naruto had disrupted her center, corrupted it to the point where she craved his chaos. She eyed the room from side to side and it dawned on her: she was more nervous than she anticipated. The more she analysed the situation, the more she grew doubtful she could go through with this conversation without an overflow of blood settling on her face.

Despite that, there were a few things that bothered her, besides her sudden increase in libido. Why did everyone assume that she _wasn't_ ready? It almost seemed like they thought she was asexual, or something. Why couldn't they understand that it just hadn't been her first priority. To be specific, she just didn't really allow any opportunity to arise. She was a businesswoman. Relationships, at the time, were not something she wanted nor did she think about. She was far too busy… being _busy_.

She had been pursued before – in fact, many suitors had approached her, but she had refused them all. She excused her behaviour with work and perfectionism, but the reality of things was that she couldn't remember how to love during that dark period of time. Her past had been a complete mystery and she had no recollection of a positive love.

It didn't help that she'd had it drilled into her for years by her father that love was an inconvenience – a weakness! Little did she know it was only his grief and misguided attempt to protect her that skewed her ability to embrace love and its activities like a normal human being.

Now… here she was sitting at her kitchen island, contemplating sex with the help of a warm cup of coffee, debating the ways to broach the embarrassing subject with a man that was not only experienced in the activity, but had mentioned several times that he would go at her pace no matter what. It was irksome that he thought she was some sort of fragile Lily of the Valley and knew that he would most likely tease her if she outright said "Let's do it," and shoved him into bed.

'_The potential humiliation and misunderstanding is statistically very high_', she could almost hear her cousin Neji speak in his monotone matter-of-fact voice.

"Ugh." She left her mug on the island and quickly stepped towards her bedroom. She couldn't wait around any longer, she needed to change her ideas or she might just chicken out from all the self-analysing. She was feeling a little relieved that Naruto wasn't here, she couldn't find that branch of courage she felt earlier that day and it was eating at her.

A white piece of paper caught her attention as it fluttered off her door and landed on the floor. She reached for it and frowned, wondering what it was.

_Sorry, Babe! Driving Shino back. His ride bailed out on him._

_'Babe...?' _She hummed as she tested the newest nickname inside her head. She squint her eyes and re-read the note; the chicken scratch was hard to make out.

She smiled at the odd little drawing next to the reason as to why he was not home – it looked like some strange attempt at his face. She could see the three whisker marks on each side of the strange circle and some strange spiky hair that reminded her of a cartoon.

She shook her head.

"Who's Shino?" she mumbled as she crumpled the piece of paper, her mind swirling with unwanted questions before she stepped into her room. She needed to get ready if she was going to make herself clear to the boy, even if it cost her dignity in the process.

* * *

**TBC - R&R because we all know authors whore for them.**

Chapter 13 is being beta'd as you read this! Oh mai! What a treat!

Cookies for those that caught on to_ The Family Guy_ reference.

Lady Bug info taken from Wiki, if it's wrong, bitch at Wiki.


	13. The Basics of Economics

**A Small Crack in Perfection**  
_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer_  
I do not own _Naruto_ nor do I make any monies off this Fanfiction. All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**AN** – Oh mai! Another chaptah. I guess you're lucky after such a dry spell. Can't promise I'll update this soon again, so enjoy it.

Many thanks to _perpetual159_ who saved my ass in this chapter, she did more than that but I'll stop here before she gets big headed. Did I ever mention how awesome she is? She's super awesome. Oh and she beta'd too, like a champ!

_**All Hail Queen Perpetual-chan! Go read Clones!**_

Thank you _Jolly_ for the beta :)

* * *

**WARNING – **If you don't like smut, well… go read something else.

* * *

**Chapter 13**  
_The Basics of Economics_

The sound of feet woke Hinata from her light slumber.

She could hear as soft shuffling made its way up the hall and into the kitchen. She blinked slowly, trying to clear the sluggish feeling of an unfinished nap. She focused on the clock to her right and blinked again. The green of the digital time keeper blinked once as the minute changed.

_11:52 p.m._

'_Almost midnight.'_

Hinata pushed the covers off while stretching and muffled a squeal that escaped her before she decided to sit up in bed. She heard some sounds seeking refuge under her door, and automatically arched a curious eyebrow; the sound was definitively too heavy to be the natural vibe of the house.

'_He's probably just standing there,' _she mused groggily.

Her feet touched the cold floor and she stood unsteadily, fighting the heavy slumber that still itched to drag her back into the comfort of sleep. Yet, she wouldn't let it get the best of her. She had a mission to accomplish tonight.

Her eyes focused on the slick dark wood of her door and she stepped forward. The space seemed longer than anticipated, but once across the threshold, she pressed her ear against the wood and listened carefully, wondering if Naruto was still there, or if he had taken off to his room.

"Hinata?"

The knock, although soft, was loud and deafening with her temple pressed against the door. The heiress clutched at her ear, stumbling back in surprise from the unexpected apparition of her thought. Without really knowing why, she trapped her gasp with her hands and didn't reply to his query.

"Must be asleep already… _damn it_."

She heard him sigh and step away from the threshold of her dark sanctuary. "That damn Shino… why did I agree to go inside? Miserable bugs crawling all over… I _hate_ that place!"

Hinata strained to catch the rest of his grumbling, but the rant lost its weight as he moved inside the guest room and began preparing for bed.

She heard him close his door and her shoulders sagged slightly.

'_You missed your chance,' _EroHinata sneered bitterly.

Hinata ignored the voice and rubbed her arms absentmindedly, wondering what to do next. She felt a chill crawl up her spine, and she eyed the bed behind her with a bit of longing – beyond the warmth of her blankets and its comfort, the room was cold and unwelcoming.

'_I should have opened the door when he knocked,' _she chastised herself a few minutes later. More alert now, she wondered if EroHinata was being fair with her accusations. Considering all the running around Naruto had done throughout the day, Hinata was certain it wouldn't take long for him to pass out and, consequently, chances were she would have to wait for another opportunity to discuss the possibility of including more _activity_ in their relationship.

That wasn't the only thing. It had occurred to her later, after their phone call, that he had misunderstood her meaning when she said she needed to talk to him. As a matter of fact, he sounded like a kicked puppy at the end of their conversation, she was willing to bet the Hyuuga fortune on it. She groaned again. She needed to clear the air between them; assure him that it was nothing negative. Yet, despite that urgent need to appease him, there she stood, completely petrified, seemingly afraid that the door would bite her hand off if she dared open it.

Hinata then shook her head sharply, barely able to resist the urge to stomp angrily at her indecisiveness.

Seriously.

_What_ the hell was wrong with her?

She was the CEO of a major company.

She was strong, confident, and she was never one to back down from _any_ challenge. Why was it that, as soon as she discovered she wanted to ravish Naruto, she became uncharacteristically _weird_, clumsy and shy? She couldn't put a sentence together and resorted to stuttering like an idiot. Her memories had unlocked a part of her that she did not understand, and it was beginning to become very cumbersome to her present self.

Above anything else, she really needed to get a grip on her cluster-fuck of emotions. It wasn't like she was trying to determine how to drown a litter of kittens – she just wanted into his pants, for crying out loud!

'_Coward…_'

"Me?" Hinata grumbled in disbelief.

'_Yes, you.'_

The words echoed again and again, mocking her.

'_Coward, coward, coward!'_

EroHinata whispered them in her ear and Hinata only growled at the inner voice. This was the _last_ thing she needed.

'_You blew it!' _it insisted.

Hinata scoffed. No, she did_ not_. There was still plenty of time. Maybe in the morning when he woke up, she could ambush him and…

'… _he'll push you away like that time when you tried to sneak attack him with that sloppy thing you swear was a kiss_…' the voice finished for her cynically.

Hinata's shoulders sagged, agreeing wholeheartedly. '_Dammit…!_'

EroHinata: 1, Hinata: 0.

That little girl she used to be before the accident was returning with a vengeance. Hinata felt betrayed by all these personalities filtering through. Maybe Naruto was right; it wasn't such a far-fetched idea that she _was_ bipolar.

What else could it possibly be?

EroHinata was having a field day with her emotions, the insecure little girl inside was confusing the hell out of her, and the Heiress – who she _really_ needed right now – was nowhere to be found. It was just her luck. Her renowned and unyielding Hyuuga confidence couldn't have picked a worse time to take a hike.

The black-haired beauty scowled. That troublemaking EroHinata had something to do with her MIA confidence – there was no doubt about it – and whatever it had done with it, that pervert was doing it just to spite her.

Yes, that _had_ to be it.

Hinata dragged her hands over her face and groaned, a habit she was picking up from her boyfriend.

'_What are you waiting for?' _the voice taunted again, revelling in her anxiety._ 'Go. It's simple! Open the door, slip into his room and take him. What's stopping you?' _

She could almost feel the voice against her skin, pushing her to her limit.

'_You think you're not good enough for him?'_

Hinata bit her lower lip.

'_Are you afraid to make a fool out yourself?_'

Touché.

"Ugh!" Hinata groaned.

EroHinata: 2, Hinata: 0.

Things were spiralling out of hand quickly and she hated not being in control. The continuous pestering was relentless; almost maddening. She couldn't even find an opening to retort! As soon as she started considering all the things that could possibly go wrong_ – if_ she decided to just go in and seduce the clueless blond, that is – that wicked little voice would cut each of them apart with a very solid and distinct _'You're just making excuses. Get your shit together and just do it!'_

"I would if you'd let me!" she hissed back venomously. It wasn't very effective, however. It seemed she was immune to her own threats and the voice just kept on truckin'.

'_Oh, for the love of cinnamon rolls, where's your backbone?' _

Hinata huffed and crossed her arms. Stupid question – it was where it was _supposed_ to be. Accessing it was just a little bit more complicated then she thought it was going to be.

She walked over to her bed and sat on it, bouncing one of her knees rapidly and impatiently. She could argue with herself all night long but the question remained: how could she possibly take control in something she'd never done before?

_**'You're a Hyuuga. Act like one.'**_

'_Finally!_' She sighed, thoroughly relieved. That snarky tone of the Heiress crawled to the surface and Hinata scrambled towards it, welcoming it with open arms despite the fact it _was_ teaming with her delusional, perverted self.

Hinata couldn't complain, however. Maybe now she could shake that terrible insecurity off.

Straightening her back with the aid of whatever little resolve the Heiress granted her, a determined expression dawned on her face. She gripped the edge of the mattress, and stilled her bouncing knee.

She could do this. As nerve-wracking as it was, she _knew_ she could. She _wanted_ to.

Hinata looked at clock on the night-stand and forcefully pushed down the feeling of dread that was once again trying to overwhelm her.

_12:15 a.m._

She had wasted nearly thirty minutes debating over something she had already decided on eight hours ago. It was ridiculous, really, but as much as she hated to admit it, EroHinata had nailed it right on the head.

The only thing that could potentially stop her was how _afraid_ she was of making a fool out of herself.

Yet, the more she thought about it, the more she realised that she had very little to worry about in regards to his theoretical rejection of her needs. If anything, Naruto was guaranteed to find it unbearably cute if she acted like… what had he called it? Oh, a _nerd_ while trying to seduce him. Not only that, but not too long ago she'd discovered that sometimes she didn't even have to say _anything_.

She didn't have to worry about whether she was in control or not. Quite frankly, she was shocked to realise that she secretly reveled being at Naruto's mercy when he lit her up like a flare. As clueless as he tended to be, Naruto could catch right on when she gave him a certain look. What that look was, she really didn't know, but she was determined to figure out what it was exactly. It seemed to get the results she sought quite easily and effectively. In fact, she had good evidence to back up that belief after a particular incident from a few days ago.

It all started with a scheduled a meeting to discuss the terms of the larger landscaping contract they were still negotiating with Rasengan Landscaping. It had been a little bit unexpected, but it was a lesson she wasn't about to forget anytime soon.

Before she became aware she'd even given him _that _look, he had been all over her like white on rice. Despite her denials, it was exactly what she had secretly yearned for and the man had delivered.

She blushed at the memory, closing her eyes as she recalled the details.

She had met with him in his office ahead of time so that they could leave together and meet with Hanabi and Neji. As she watched him unfold his collar and throw the silk tie around his neck, she couldn't help but to smile. She could tell he wasn't very good at it – quite frankly he _sucked_ at it. Several moments went by before she could no longer bear to watch the bright orange tie get the best of him.

"That's an interesting way to put on a tie," she commented softly, fighting the mirth in her voice.

He looked at her, pouting as she resisted a grin.

"You do it, then," he grumbled petulantly.

She let her lips stretch into a stunning smile, unable to resist teasing him – giving him a taste of his own medicine for a change. Walking up to him, Hinata took the knot away from his clumsy fingers, untied it, aligned the tie properly, and began anew. At the rate he had been going, the poor tie would've ended up looking like a fancy rope.

"Kiba usually ties them for me," he admitted sheepishly.

"Hmm," she hummed pensively. "Why didn't you ask him, then?"

She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down nervously and a light blush dusted her cheeks. She wanted to run her fingertips over it.

"I wanted to impress you," he mumbled. "Clearly, I'm a man, and a man's supposed to know these things." His shoulders then sagged slightly. "It's… my secret shame, I guess."

Hinata tried to suppress her smile, but she was failing despite her best efforts.

"It's not funny," he complained. "I can never get the order of the knots right."

"Yes, I noticed that."

Naruto huffed. "You don't even need to wear ties. Where'd you learn to do it?"

Hinata suppressed a heated shudder. His eyes studied her every move while she tried to focus on the task at hand and she could feel his warm breath on her face – soothing her as much as it made her nervous.

"My father…" she paused, her blush darkening when she noticed him licking his lips, "m-my father taught me, a-and…" God, she _really_ wanted to kiss him, "I g-got a lot of practice with Neji before he started dating Tenten."

Naruto raised a brow. "Neji?"

"Yes…" She bit the inside of her cheek. She seriously had it bad. Even the shape of his quirked eyebrow she found sexy.

'_The tie. Focus on the tie!'_

"Would you believe me if I told you that serious and stiff cousin of mine can't tie a tie save his life, either?"

"Is that right…?" he murmured. His voice was low and husky and before Hinata could help herself, she bit her lower lip.

'_Steady… keep it steady…'_ she coached herself unconsciously, yet, her eyes met his briefly and he grinned cheekily at her. He hadn't missed her stutter, let alone the way she had nibbled her lower lip, and Hinata wanted to kick herself.

"It's… true…" she almost whispered, once again meeting his beautiful eyes. "It's a family farce that it is his destiny to suck at tying a tie."

There was a moment of silence before Naruto's low and velvety laughter rang out into the room. She looked up from her task and for a moment, she was dumbstruck.

He was simply gorgeous.

The urge to forget the tie was taking over her logic. She wanted to run her hands all over his neck, thread her fingers through that wild hair of his and nibble at those whisker-like scar on his cheeks. The strongest urge, however – the one that made her want to bite her lip and cast aside her self-imposed restrictions – was to freely inhale his scent. Without realising it, she did just that.

She felt Naruto stiffen for a split second, startled. As she pulled away and prepared to execute the last loop on the tie, her eyes met his again, and she stopped midway. The smouldering look he gave her took her breath away.

She blushed, understanding his silent request, but couldn't help the way she coyly looked away. Responding to his request just a silently, she released the incomplete knot, allowing her hands to press against his chest. She leaned into him, resting her forehead beneath his chin and breathing him in once again. Naruto nuzzled her hair impulsively, also inhaling her scent as his hands reached for her waist. He nudged his nose against her temple, urging her to look up. When she finally did, he dipped his lips into hers, nibbling them when he felt her shudder. His arms tightened around her.

Hinata's hands reached up to fiddle with the hair line resting over the upper portion of his neck, thus giving him even better access and Naruto, for his part, grunted in approval. With a smile, his lips left hers, his teeth playfully biting at her jaw line.

They journeyed lower, and she tremble prettily, hardly able to resist him. They nipped and tugged at the flesh of her neck, tormenting her, and Hinata released a feminine groan. She wanted to possess him. A primal need deep down in her belly was screaming for more of his touch. His breath was hot, moist against her skin and she shuddered when he pressed her against the wall of his office.

His hands released her waist and his long fingers reached up to grab her hands. They wrapped themselves around her wrists and he pulled them down, keeping them near her waist. One knee slipped between hers and before she could take in a full breath, she heard him murmur her name. Like his quiet slow laughter, the sultry sound of his voice invaded her logic and she felt disoriented.

Her head thumped against the wall and Naruto looked up for a moment with the same confused look she had, but she dismissed it, shaking her head to reassure him she was fine. He barely had time to register her response before her lips mashed against his in a hungry and demanding kiss. Two could play that game. She could take some control and drive him just as crazy.

Naruto obliged – his tongue slipping deeply inside her mouth – and she greedily took it in. Her wrists slipped free from his grasp and she quickly buried her hands in his hair, pulling his face closer and moaning when he shifted position, rubbing against her sex.

"Fuck…!" He broke the kiss, his hands grabbing her hips and pressing her against him once more.

Hinata could clearly feel his erection nestled there and without realising, she forcefully rubbed her own sex against it. She heard him grind his teeth, restraining himself, but it didn't last long.

"Naruto…" she whispered wantonly.

His right hand slipped from her hip down to her mid-thigh, and there she felt his fingers slide under the edge of her skirt. He let out a grunt of approval and Hinata opened her eyes. She could feel how bruised her lips were as she locked her gaze with his own. He grinned. The blue of his eyes darkened and the flush on his cheeks grew by the second.

"Something about you in a skirt…" he murmured huskily. He was breathless.

She raised a brow, but her curiosity was cut short when she felt his fingers unbutton her dress shirt. Hinata gasped when his lips followed her delicate collar bone down the valley of her breasts, nipping at the edge of her bra covering the mounds of flesh.

"Na-Naruto, the m-m-meeting… ah!"

A nip at the skin made her flinch, and he looked up, frowning at her as though she had mentioned something unpleasant. He grabbed at the bra's material with his teeth, pulling it down over the nipple and looked up again. Hinata was red with embarrassment.

"Don't kill the mood."

He grabbed the nipple between his teeth and she stiffened, shocked at the sensation. She squirmed, but it only made him more stubborn. It was obvious with the way he held her in place and flicked his tongue across the supple skin that he wouldn't let her righteousness get in the way.

"You should come dressed like this more often."

He was excessively illogical at this point, and under different circumstances Hinata would've rolled her eyes. There was nothing sexy about being dressed for work.

"It's only a skirt and a dress shirt…!" her words ended in a moan when his hands pulled up her skirt and slipped around to her ass, grabbing the flesh to a near pinch.

"That's like a double knock out move, _Hi~na~ta_." He dragged out her name, and she narrowed her eyes. She could definitely hear the mischievousness behind it.

"What?" Her mind was buzzing. His assault was making her brain collapse on its own and her words were reduced to single syllables or, her worst enemy, the lustful moan.

"You're so hot in a suit, all I want to do is take you out of it."

"Don't tell me you have a fetish for suits… ah!" Another nip, this time at her lower lip, and Naruto almost growled at her.

"Only if it's you."

He squeezed her ass cheeks again, his knee further spreading her stance.

Hinata felt heated, almost desperate. Her need pulsed relentlessly, but she couldn't satisfy it. She pulled at his sleeves, wordlessly begging for him to do something since she couldn't articulate the request quickly enough. Lucky for her, he was well on his way to fill her with a new sensation. She immediately got lost in his touch, and if he demanded anything from her, she didn't even notice.

"Please…!"

She was burning up, letting herself be consumed by his own feverish need. She needed to… she needed to do something about the ache between her legs. Her back arched and her bare breasts pressed against him. Growling, one of Naruto's hands traveled from one of her buttocks and zoned in on the source of her impatience. His fingers momentarily marvelled over the soft feel of her panties and then moved in for the kill. Over the fabric of the delicate item, she felt sticky. The material was humid and he smirked.

He loved it.

Naruto pressed his thumb against the swelling nub hidden under her panties and she bucked, gasping at his touch, but in no way denying him.

"Wha – "

He cut off her question with a deep, searing kiss. His index stroked her gently at first, but the tingling persisted and she squirmed impatiently. He pressed harder, stilling her with something she'd never experienced with someone else before. Maybe it was because of just how turned on she was, but if anyone asked her at that very instant, she would admit that his touch was more effective than hers. It was hard to believe, but she could actually feel it with the way the tingling gradually turned into a pulse at a faster rate than she was accustomed to, even if his fingers continued moving at a slow pace. How unfair. Realising how easily addicted she could become to him, Hinata felt her hips moving to counter the stroke, and her hands frantically grabbed at his shoulders, whimpering when he changed the stroke to a circling motion.

"Punishment," he mumbled. He increased the speed and the pulse became faster, making her ears buzz.

"For… for what?" she managed to say before moaning shamelessly.

"For making fun of my lack of tie-tying skills."

She couldn't hear anything more. His fingers moved faster and she could feel a familiar pressure building inside. Her nails dug at his shoulders and her breath became oddly shallow. Oh, she couldn't take much more. Her back was pressed hard against the wall, but she desperately held on to Naruto as he guided her through something only she had been able to accomplish on those nights of self-exploration.

Hinata quivered, and Naruto watched her as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her mouth opened, trying to vocalise the sensation, and he couldn't believe how incredibly sexy she was. Her hips were moving hard against his hand, and he bit his lower lip, enthralled by her unconscious actions. He could feel the rush of his own blood in his ears and it took everything in him not to slip his fingers under those panties and thrust a finger up that slick, wet entrance.

'_Fuck, she's hot…!'_

"Na-Naru…!" she squealed and one of her hands pulled at his crooked collar, wrinkling it with her death-grip.

"Let it go, baby." He gritted his teeth. His own erection throbbed painfully as she bucked against him, and her nails dug deeper, her face progressively flushed with arousal.

Then she felt it. There, at her core – a wave of pulses emanated from deep within her womb. The violence of the pleasure she felt nearly tore a scream from her, but Naruto had covered her mouth with his own, swallowing her into a brief and unwelcome silence.

He had wanted to hear her scream, oh, sweet heaven, how he wanted to bask in her pleasure, but it would draw too much unwanted attention. They were still in his office, and he could clearly hear people speaking and walking about right outside his door.

When she finally began descending from her high, he released her slowly, kissing her lips briefly before moving up to the bridge of her nose and nipping it. He smiled and she panted, her whole body shaking. She was at a loss for words.

"So…" he pulled at something around his neck and she blinked in confusion, "weren't you supposed to _help_ with this tie?"

Her head thumped against the wall again, and closed her eyes in disbelief.

Hinata shook her head, blushing furiously at the memory. If anyone had told her a few weeks ago that something like this would happen if she ever decided to help Naruto with his tie, she would have outright dismissed their delusional theories. Unfortunately for her, Naruto was simply unpredictable, and right up to this moment, she was still trying to get a feel for him. What was worse, after that little adventure in the office, Hinata couldn't for the life of her remember a time where she'd been more unfocused in a meeting. Neji had frowned at her curiously more than once, Hanabi would occasionally giggle, and Naruto couldn't wipe the smug smirk off his face even if he tried.

Hinata chewed the inside of her cheek pensively. The things he had made her feel in that office reminded her just how badly she wanted him. There were no excuses to be made at this point. She had to speak with him and find out for herself if they were ready.

She stood from the bed and rolled her head gingerly, feeling the vertebrae snap once or twice. She was still tense, and definitely a little anxious, but it was nothing like it had been moments ago.

Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Hinata walked towards the door and opened it.

Good. Her hand was still intact.

She stepped into the hallway, her fingers tugging irritably at the cheap panty elastic that dug into one of her butt cheeks.

She looked down at her hands. The sleeves of the oversized dress shirt she had dug out of Naruto's closet earlier that night were sliding over them and she felt dwarfed inside of it. It was definitely _forward_ of her, but it was all part of the _plan._

Hours before EroHinata and her insecure _Mini-Me_ began their relentless tirade, Hinata had decided that she could catch his undivided attention with the little titbit of information she discovered that day in his office. Indeed, that perverted boyfriend of hers had a thing for seeing her in business attire, and she would take advantage of that – _especially_ tonight – but not without adding her own twist to it first.

She had entered his room – sneakily, despite the fact that he was out – and put on a dress shirt that belonged to him. After several minutes of indulging herself with breathing in his scent, she dared to leave a few buttons open to reveal her _abundant_ cleavage clad in her most revealing bra which – to her misfortune – still happened to be rather conservative.

The buttoning down was a suggestion from her so-called _support group_, to which she still held a grudge against after the fiasco she had endured to get to this point. She _could_ have had something sexier to wear under this, but after that _informative_ lunch, she'd had to get creative. Earlier that afternoon, at Hanabi's persistent suggestion, she had made her way to a shady part of town she usually avoided.

She had ditched Koh, her limo driver – to save face, of course – and borrowed Hanabi's car, which her younger sister eagerly exchanged for the limo. Hinata knew that her little sister's willingness to help her with transportation was mostly in support of her cause, but Hinata had the sneaking suspicion that mischievous little sister of hers just wanted a valid excuse to abuse Koh and have free reign on ordering him around.

The directions provided to the virginal Hyuuga were printed neatly on a yellow sticky note, thanks to Sakura. Hinata had been surprised the pink-haired woman was actually able to write between the sly looks and fits of giggles. It contained, besides the typical how-to-get-there instructions, a bonus of _who and what to ask for_, but Hinata had frozen into place when the store came into view and the note had instantly been crumbled in her fist.

She no longer had any doubts about it; her love life had been far too sheltered and ignored. She couldn't believe such a store even _existed_.

In the large display windows, there were items that made her turn beet red. She was blinded by the _less-than-comfortable-looking_ corsets and as she tried to comfort her naiveté, her gaze was marred by some complicated pieces of clothing she wasn't sure could actually cover her private bits. The worst part was that she couldn't figure out how she was supposed to get _into_ the clothing, let alone have Naruto get her _out_ of them quickly enough. Before she could finish asking herself if maybe the clothes came with a DVD instruction manual or a visual hands-on demonstration, she gasped in horror and spun immediately around – her feet could barely keep up with the command to run, actually. The fluffy cuffs and the wall of dildos she had managed to overlook, but the catalyst was barely visible in the back of the store.

'_Dear god_,_ what the hell are those leather things? Whips?'_

That was too much! Hyuuga pride or not, the _Seductress Boutique_ had defeated her. Even EroHinata was screaming at her to _run and get the hell out of there_.

She fidgeted again, pushing the memory away.

Despite it all, the length of the shirt was just perfect, ending just below her buttock. She liked how it fell against her curves – emphasizing her assets – and how it exposed her long legs freely. She _knew_ it made the look sexy. She could do this.

This could work.

_'No, not "could".'_ EroHinata was quick to clarify. _'This _will_ work.'_ Hinata shook her head.

The cold floor tickled her toes as her fingers wrapped themselves around the guestroom's door knob. Not wasting another second, she pushed the door open. The odd high pitched creaks of the hinges made her wince, but were swallowed by the darkness of the hallway. Her feet slid across the floor, and her eyes focused on her goal. She could feel the anxiety run through her very veins, but she nonetheless propelled herself towards him with a deep, shuddering breath.

Finally within his domain, Hinata couldn't suppress a cringe when she heard a quiet but very brief snore escape him.

She paused.

She could see him in the mixed shadows provided by the street light that flickered through the window, taunting her to come closer. Yet, she felt like a thief in her own home, hungry to steal his essence without making him aware of her intentions.

Hinata then shook her head. Unlike what EroHinata had suggested, Hinata had no intentions of "raping him."

_'Can't rape the willing,' _the voice reminded, snickering.

Hinata narrowed her eyes and ignored the voice. In fact, she wanted him to know exactly what she had in mind; the problem was she didn't know how to convey it without sounding like an idiot.

_'That's why I keep saying to just take him!'_

"You want me to do this or not?"Hinata hissed under her breath.

_'No shit, Sherlock. What do you think?'_

_'Okay, then do me a favour and pipe down, because you're not helping.'_

Hinata shook her head, hoping to dislodge the voice from her head. She took a deep breath, and returned her gaze to the object of her desires. She had to suppress a giggle at the way he was sprawled like a starfish with his large feet sticking out from under the covers. Yet, despite the way he slept, she was inexplicably drawn to him with each breath he took. Her pale eyes watched him quietly, nervously… savouring the very sight of him.

To her misfortune the floorboards beneath her squeaked as she moved, and he stirred awake.

Hinata mentally face-palmed.

Why was it that the day he brought her flowers it took everything in her to wake him up off the ottoman, but tonight he was the epitome of a light sleeper? She narrowed her eyes, eyeing him from her planted spot.

Hinata's breath hitched as she admired his form moulded by the shades of the night. She couldn't quite see him clearly, but the light caught his eyes and she was suddenly mesmerized by them – the blues shimmered and glowed like that of a cat in darkness.

An intense feeling of dread washed over her, almost as if someone had dumped a very cold, _cold_ bucket of water on her when he turned on the lamp on the nightstand. A soft glow washed over the guestroom.

Crap!

There was nowhere to hide now. What was she going to do!

_''Now's your chance!'_ EroHinata urged._ 'Take him while he's confused!'_

_'N-no! K-knock him out and run for the hills!'_ Mini-Me countered._ 'K-karate-chop him on the neck! If h-he asks about it in the morning, tell him it was just a b-bad dream!'_

"Hinata…?"

Crap, crap, _crap_!

She whimpered in despair. This was _not_ sexy. This was _not_ alluring. This was just Hinata Hyuuga making a mess of things and reverting to _complete idiot_ mode.

She watched as he squinted away from the light and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He then looked at her with a curious frown.

"What are you doing here…?" His voice was still groggy, and he probably didn't realize how unbelievably profound that question was to her.

Hinata resisted the urge to groan and gripped at the hem of his shirt.

"I d-don't know…" she whispered.

_'Liar!'_

Naruto raised a bewildered brow. "Uh… what…?"

_'I-I told you t-to knock him out…'_

"We… I… we n-need to talk…"

"Oh…" Naruto yawned, "couldn't it have waited 'til morning…?"

Hinata's shoulders sagged and she looked at her toes. He had a point. The man was dead tired and she wanted "to talk"? She felt selfish.

"Hinata…?"

She raised her eyes to him apologetically. "I… you're right… it… I can wait 'til tomorrow. I'm sorry."

_'Retreating?'_ Hinata frowned. She wasn't sure if that time it was one of her personas or just her own doubt calling her out.

Naruto did a double take, albeit sleepily. He watched as she began making her way towards the exit. She had let go pretty easily, which made him a little bit curious.

"I'm awake," he assured, even if the raspy sound in his voice betrayed him.

Hesitating, she looked at him again and stopped on her tracks.

"Come," he said, sitting up in the bed and gesturing her over with one hand. He was pretty certain that he'd never seen her so dejected before.

Unsure and wide-eyed, Hinata remained near the door.

"C'mon," he urged, scooting over and patting the spot next to him. "Let's talk."

He watched her hesitate for a few more seconds before she finally made her way to him. As she walked over, his eyes widened and he felt his face immediately heat up.

_'Holy… shit… _what_ is she wearing…?'_

Once on the side of the bed, her long delicate fingers unconsciously reached out for him. One of his hands took the one she offered and the other – still somewhat sluggishly – raised the sheets for her to climb under.

Her movements were cautious, and when she noticed his flushed features, she couldn't help but quiver slightly. No doubt he noticed her outfit, or to be more specific, her state of _undress_.

"Tell me what's wrong." His hushed voice rang through her, genuinely concerned – while he tried not to stare _too_ much – but her nerves were too wired to answer him right away so she chose to ignore the question and continued to brace herself, courage barely keeping her on her path.

"The thing is…" she lingered off, She noticed the confusion settling on his handsome and sleepy features. "I, well… maybe… I don't know…"

Naruto scratched his head slightly. "You'll have to be a little bit more specific, Love – sleep makes me stupid." He yawned once again and stretched. She blushed when it struck her just how much of him was exposed to her. He was only in boxers and, although she could only see from his waist up, she could quite openly appreciate the way each muscle flexed and moved under his toned and golden skin. _Sweet Jesus_, she wanted to touch him.

Hinata bit her lip, unsure what to say.

Naruto noticed this and shifted on the bed until he was lying again. He pulled her down towards the pillow and she found herself face to face to him, lying on her side.

"Comfortable, now?" he asked.

She nodded softly.

He smirked. He watched her sleepily, and his smirk turned into a soft smile.

His scent on the pillow reassured her. Not only that, but he pushed away her insecurity with just one look, one smile.

"Naruto… do you…" she felt doubt creep in again and her mouth closed against her will.

She frowned. She knew it was now or never, but she was still worried that her forwardness was going to backfire. She needed some form of encouragement, and since the Heiress was missing in action once again, she did the next best thing: indulge herself. Her fingers slipped softly against his chest, like wind slithering amongst leaves in a tree. Naruto pressed his own fingers against her wandering ones and didn't say anything.

She could feel his eyes on her, and she gulped. She knew her actions were attracting attention, but she didn't regret it one bit. How many times had she fantasized about touching him like this?

She took a deep breath, determination firing through her, and she opened her mouth again – she _would_ go through with this if it killed her.

"Is that my shirt?"

His fingers exploring the collar froze her into silence. Hinata stuttered, suddenly feeling vulnerable. She could see a smirk on his face, his index dipped past the material and onto her skin playfully while he waited for her answer. He grazed the collar bone and suddenly leaned up against an elbow. His face loomed above hers, dominating her into a strange lulled submission. She didn't resist when he began to pull the blanket away from her body.

"That is _definitely_ my shirt." This time she swore she heard cockiness in his voice.

The jig was up.

"W-w-well!" she stuttered again.

He pulled the blanket back some more and she tugged back, suddenly fighting to keep her dignity. She could imagine EroHinata groaning in disappointment in her head. Wasn't the whole point to show some skin? Why was she so embarrassed all of a sudden?

He laughed and rolled his eyes, yanking the item from her fingers.

_'Ha! It's about damned time _someone_ put your plan into action!'_

_'You damned deviant!'_ Hinata thought.

EroHinata cackled. _'Me or Naruto-hawtness?' _

_'B-Both of you!'_

"Are you wearing anything under it?" he teased, his hand slipping down to her thigh.

Hinata froze when his finger tips touched the skin, interrupting her inner scolding.

"Ah… uh…" Her brain was defaulting and her breath had oddly caught in her throat. This wasn't supposed to happen. Why couldn't he just be a good sport and lay there and let her do the seducing? She was supposed to come on to _him_, not the other way around!

In fact, she had been doing fine touching his chest – it had been a good start – but he just _had_ to be quicker and better than her.

_'You are _such_ a virgin…'_

Well, what could she do, though? She couldn't help turning into mush from just one single touch from him. This was all very new to her, and she still needed to learn a way to resist him, to set the pace.

His hand traveled further up and Hinata gasped. The sound caught Naruto by surprise. It was more erotic than he anticipated and he cleared his throat.

"So you _are_ wearing panties… shame." His index followed the edge of the elastic and she squirmed under his touch. He noticed that the shirt was unbuttoned far too low, and he immediately felt a surge of blood heat in his body.

His gaze hungrily wandered over her and Hinata felt exposed.

"You said you wanted to talk…" he murmured, but desired otherwise, hoping it wasn't a serious conversation that required his attention. He could barely keep focused on anything other than her cleavage that was barely hidden by the hem of his shirt.

"I…"

Tenaciously, his hand dug under the elastic of her panties and wrapped around her hip.

"Naruto…" she murmured.

"Hmm…?" She still wanted to talk? He focused on her shoulder that was slowly slipping out of the open collar._ 'Keep slipping… almost there…!' _Restraint wasn't on his list of priorities right then; he could see all her curves, no thanks to gravity.

Hinata felt tongue tied, how could she speak when he was still touching her?

"Ngh…" She couldn't even manage a word, let alone a sentence, when his thumb stroke her hip and the other fingers continued to map her skin under the material. She felt the Goosebumps crawl up her back when he leaned in and kissed her shoulder tenderly.

"I wanted to…" Another light kiss against her neck made forget for a second what she had wanted to say.

"Yeah…?" A flick of the tongue against the collar bone arched her back. He smirked.

"I wanted to ask if…" His hand briefly emerged from within her panties only to grab the main elastic and begin pulling down.

"Naru-"

He silenced her by pressing himself to her and burying his face against her throat. His breath felt moist and hot against her neck and she moaned at the foreign sensation of his lips against her.

'_God damn she's hot.'_

He nipped at her, basking in the taste of her skin. Her panties were already past her hips and reaching mid-thighs, whereupon Naruto abandoned them, his hands trailing back up to explore what had been hidden from his touch. She drew in a breath when his finger tips barely stroke her outer labia lips.

"W-w-wait!" She yelped suddenly, pushing at his chest.

Naruto let her go, and shook his head slightly. He had crossed the line without realising.

"Shit! I'm sorry, Hinata."

Gasping for breath, Hinata rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. "Don't… don't be sorry," she whispered.

"Hinata…"

She rolled her head towards him and re-opened her eyes, biting her lip when his gaze turned to avoid meeting with hers.

_'Oh, for fuck's sake!' _EroHinata screamed in her head._ 'He was starting to do _exactly_ what you came here to have him do to you! What's the excuse now!'_

_'I'm supposed to control this! Not him, alright?' _

_'Well, you're doing a shit poor job of it!' _Hinata pushed out the voice, irked that it felt the need to remind her she was_ failing_ at controlling the situation.

"I… sorry," he apologized again. He felt like a lunkhead. Wasn't he the one that guaranteed her he would go at her pace, make sure she was comfortable with him?

'_I'm such an asshole.'_

He also rolled onto his back to give her space but she rolled onto him this time, wrapping her arms around his chest and surprising him for a moment.

"N-No…" she said quietly. "It's… not your fault. I…" she took a deep breath, blushing an embarrassing scarlet, "I came in dressed like this, so… I guess my plan worked a little too well…"

"Your plan?" he parroted, once again rolling onto his side and resting one hand on her hip. His other hand rested between them, fiddling with the hem of the shirt she wore as he eyed her curiously.

"What… what I came to talk about," she murmured.

"Yeah… about that… " he mused out loud, "you had already gone to bed by the time I arrived."

"Well," she began, "it's… it's a request, to be honest."

He arched an eyebrow. "I'm all ears."

'_Tell him now!'_ EroHinata urged. _'Before you chicken out again!'_

Hinata bit the corner of her lip softly. "The thing is… I wanted to ask if you would be willing to amend a few things in our arrangement."

Naruto blinked. She wanted to speak about the contract?

"Amendments?" He was confused._ 'She wakes me up, cock-blocks me, and then expects me to talk about this shit when I'm still nursing one hell of a boner?'_

"Yes, I wish to add a few things that would benefit both parties."

Her face was now deeply buried against his chest – which was all the more a turn on – and he wrapped one arm around her, forcing the young woman to lean against him while he propped himself up against the pillows. He looked at the crown of her head with a deeply frustrated frown that, for her sake, he tried to mask with confusion.

He could literally hear his dick grumbling. This had better be good!

"You don't say," he muttered. But he couldn't help himself. He was a red-blooded, healthy male, and getting blue-balled was _never_ fun.

Hinata frowned slightly and pulled away from his chest to look into his eyes. Was that sarcasm she heard?

"Yes," she replied curtly, deciding it was. She did _not_ appreciate that tone.

"So why the outfit, Babe?" he asked. This time the frustration was pretty evident in his voice. "You don't need to bribe me like this to make contract changes, it's a garden. Plus," he tugged at her exposed bra strap, "you have exclusive rights that most don't have access to." He tried to smile but he felt a little disappointed that she thought she had to do this to change something. Was he that hard to get along with?

An expression of understanding dawned on the heiress. He wasn't trying to pick a fight with her, he was just confused as hell and didn't know what to make of her actions.

She smiled at him, reaching up to caress his whiskered cheek. "Not _that_ arrangement, silly…"

He blinked at her. "Well, I'm confused, then."

Hinata giggled, and Naruto pouted.

"I mean it. I really don't know what you're talking about," he whined.

Hinata sighed. This was a little difficult. Not only was her boyfriend as slow and thick as molasses, but she wasn't used to negotiating relationships.

"I want to… uh, well, amend our relationship terms."

More blinking.

"Our what?"

"How we're proceeding in our relationship. I wanted to ask… no, no, no. We _need_ to add a few more_ incentives_."

He had to have misunderstood. He remained quiet for several seconds, processing her strange language.

"Uh." He wasn't sure how to react.

Hinata eyed him expectantly.

Several seconds went by before, _finally_, it dawned on him that his little vixen was trying to expand the limits of their relationship as if she was negotiating a contract. "_Oh_…" He wanted to laugh, she was _too cute_ for her own good. "Well, what kind of… um… incentives were you thinking about?"

There was a change, she noted almost immediately when he pulled her tightly against him. Maybe he finally understood.

"I… want more. The quantity of goods we had initially agreed upon no longer meets my demands. We must determine a new point of equilibrium and adjust the supply curve accordingly."

"Is that right…?" The urge to tease her at this point was almost astronomical, so he played along.

"Yes, that's _right_." Her tone was short. Hinata may have been inexperienced in relationships, but she knew when she was being picked on.

"But not the demand curve, right?" Naruto almost snickered.

"Naturally," she dead-panned, not amused at all. "Although I _greatly_ value your services, _you_ can't risk losing_ this_ contract."

"Oh, _really_?" he smirked, arching an eyebrow in feigned surprise.

"Yes."

"So let me get this straight. You want to adjust the supply quantity because it no longer meets your demands?"

"Precisely."

Naruto frowned. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually when demand exceeds supply, the price of said supply increases, meaning, the supply quantity stays the same and I get to charge more."

Hinata smirked. "That may be so, but since I _know_ your inventory is practically endless, I'm not willing to pay more than is fair."

"You're a ruthless businesswoman, you know that?"

Her chin rose slightly, proudly. "Hyuugas are notorious for looking after their interests. I'm certainly _not_ the exception."

"So I see," he muttered sarcastically.

She inspected her nails carefully, just for dramatic effect. "The amendments I'm willing to offer are in your best interests. I would think wisely before making a decision. This is a great opportunity for you, but a one-time offer only."

Naruto laughed. "You don't say?"

Hinata shrugged, unconcerned.

"Last time I checked _you_ were the one who came here to talk to _me_."

"Your point?"

There was a moment of silence between them. Naruto shook his head slightly, impressed with her quick wit.

"You aren't giving me too many options."

Hinata shrugged. "That's because you hardly have room to negotiate. Your losses will be greater than mine."

"Oh, _really_?"

"Yes, really. You are already deeply invested in this company," she reminded him off-handed.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Regardless, shouldn't you be trying to convince me instead of trying to use these intimidation tactics?"

"They are not intimidation tactics. I'm only looking out for you."

"That's some way to look out for me," he grumbled.

"Just stating the obvious."

"Yeah, okay." Naruto shook his head slightly. "Not only are you ruthless, but you sure like to take your chances when striking up a deal."

"One must never fear at the sight of adversity. One must always take chances."

Naruto snorted. "Uh-huh. Chances, my ass. A loose cannon when giving someone your sales pitch, that's what you are and won't admit it."

She smiled. "Stop changing the subject. What will it be?"

"What happens if I say no?" Of course he wasn't going to, but he wanted to get a rise out of her, anyway.

"You go bankrupt."

His eyes widened and he started sputtering nonsense."Y-You cold-hearted woman!" he accused. So much for getting a rise out of her.

Hinata smiled smugly. She had him right where she wanted him.

Naruto sighed in defeat. "Very well, then. Tell me about these new conditions and _amendments_."

Hinata took a deep breath. This was it.

"Tell me," he insisted.

She braced herself, and finally spoke. "I wish for us to further the boundaries of our physical relationship."

Naruto laughed soundlessly. _Boundaries…? _This was getting dangerously cute. Added to that, her tone throughout this conversation had been too serious so far, almost as if she was trying to decide exactly how many millions she wanted to invest on a new project, which only made him silently laugh harder.

"I'm being serious, Naruto."

"So am I," he said defensively, yet he couldn't suppress the wide grin on his face.

Hinata eyed him suspiciously, not believing him.

"I'm serious, I promise," he swore.

Was that a snort she heard?

"What commission percentage am I getting once we expand our relationship contract? You _do_ know I can't do this for free, right?" He tried to look his most composed, but the mirth and gleam in his eyes betrayed him.

"Naruto…" she warned.

"You're the one who started it with all this business talk." He shrugged.

She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously.

He snickered. "Okay, okay, okay."

"Hmph!"

"Is that why you're dressed like this?" He smirked, picturing her blush as she buried her face again. "Is this part of the uh…_ negotiations_?"

He felt her nod, and this time he laughed outright.

Hinata huffed; irked he was taking her too lightly.

"Babe, you didn't need to negotiate anything to convince me. All you had to do was ask." He kissed the top of her head and she mumbled something against his chest. He didn't hear it clearly so he poked her. "What was that?"

"I-I-I want to make love!" she stuttered, her face red as a tomato.

Her confession surprised him, the force behind the nervous conviction preventing him from even doubting her seriousness.

Then he burst out laughing.

Hinata leaned back, watching him wide-eyed.

"Naruto…?"

He wouldn't stop laughing.

Almost half a minute went by, filled with his laughter, and she was getting increasingly irritated – to the point she wanted to _scream_.

When he finally started calming down, Hinata watched him expectantly, eyes narrowed with impatience. If she hadn't been lying down, her arms would've been crossed and she would've been tapping her foot.

"Oh, my God…" he heaved, still chuckling.

"I'm glad I amuse you," she muttered sarcastically.

Naruto took a deep breath, grinning at her beautifully. "Seriously, Babe… I don't get you…"

Hinata only narrowed her eyes further. She thought she had been as straight forward as possible. What was there to _not_ get?

"I was well on my way to getting into you your panties but you_ stopped _me, remember?"

She still wanted to cross her arms, or turn away from him. This was getting embarrassing considering he was being quite _logical_… and she, quite_ irrational_. "I know…" Hinata grumbled, "but it was going all wrong."

"What was going wrong?"

"The plan! I was _supposed_ to be the one doing the seducing, not_ you_!" she poked him hard on the chest, and her unhappiness brazenly apparent with each jab.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't expecting that particular response, let alone the sound of voice laced with so much frustration.

Hinata looked away, avoiding his gaze. "I wanted to be in control… but… you… you're _too_ intense! I turn to mush when you touch me, and I can't think straight!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow._ 'Since when was that a bad thing?'_ he thought before taking her chin between his thumb and index. He caught her gaze and let his lips break into a very soft and reassuring smile. "You wanted to be in control, huh…?"

"Yes," she grumbled.

"I thought we talked about this…" He smirked.

Hinata frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it better to lose control?" He rolled her over onto her back, slipped a thigh between her own and pressed her wrists up above her head.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt his lips against her neck. His teeth nipped the ear lobe, catching her off guard.

"You wanted me to just lay there like a dead fish?" he asked quietly against her ear while sneaking a finger inside her shirt, grazing the soft skin of her breast.

"I…" She blushed profusely. "Well, no…" She took a deep breath. "I… It's not like that."

"Hmm," Another nip at the shell of her ear, her eyes rolled back for a moment. "I'm pretty sure I made it clear to you that I wanted you to let go of your control-freak tendencies."

Hinata squirmed under him. His muscles flexed against her effort and she blew air out of her cheeks.

"This isn't the same thing!" she argued softly. "I'm not trying to control _emotions_, I'm trying to get the upper hand in seducing you." She tried to get her hands free, but he only pressed down harder, immobilising her. "They're entirely different things…" The words died in her throat when he distracted her with another lick, the heat of his body pressed against her as he leaned into her.

"If you say so." He grinded against her slowly. She was a sinking ship and they both knew it.

He was infuriating.

"Let _me_ make love to _you_," she hissed at him between slow thrusts.

Naruto stopped his rocking and cocked an eyebrow. He'd have to be a fool to miss the emphasis on her words, but he loved teasing her, no matter under what circumstances.

"Well…" he began, "I'm afraid I can't make any promises on letting you have your way…"

Hinata frowned, confused, and a little miffed he wasn't willing to oblige this one request.

He grinned mischievously, nuzzling her fringes. "However… I think that, tonight, that can_ certainly_ be arranged."

Hinata blushed brightly, lightly exhaling. She couldn't stop the shy, yet triumphant smile that formed on her lips when he moved in with a loving smirk, but stopped short of kissing her, frowning slightly.

"Is this _really _just a onetime offer?" he asked. The seriousness that laced his tone and the pout on his face was enough to make Hinata burst out laughing. He sighed in relief when she shook her head. He grinned and his lips finally met hers in a tender kiss.

She didn't even mind when EroHinata cackled in her head and said, _'Hallelujah!'_

* * *

**TBC – R&R**

That's right, THE chapter is next.  
Cock Block no Jutsu!

P.S. Blame me if Perpetual's late with the Clones update! ^_^


	14. Greed

**A Small Crack in Perfection**  
_By eternalshiva_

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

**AN**: I think there are fourteen versions of this chapter? I wasn't happy with any of them. Been a long 13 months for you guys, I bet! And for those who pointed the accusatory finger of my abandoning this, well, I didn't.

Warning: Smut—detailed smut. If it's not your cup of tea, well, I guess you'll have to wait another couple of weeks / months / years to continue with the story.

Thank you _Jolly Green_ and _Perpetual159_ for the beta, I appreciate it so much!

**Chapter 14**  
_Greed_

'_I want to make love to you!'_

Her exclamation still ringed in her ears. Why had she so vehemently made such a declaration? Now she was dumbfounded on what to do next.

Should she just lean forward and kiss him? Or maybe caress him a bit…?

She had to resist shaking her head, lest she draw more attention than she already was. She felt like _quite_ the fool. Every time she and Naruto had gotten hot and heavy, he had always led the way and she had always been_ more_ than glad to sit back and enjoy the ride. Now she found herself between a rock and a hard place.

The whole thing was _really_ ironic.

Usually she was more… cautious about the positions she placed herself in, but for once in her life, at least ever since she could remember, she found herself shooting first and asking questions later—something in the back of her mind told her Naruto's influence had something to do with such out-of-character behaviour. Nevertheless, she had _wanted_ to control this, and now that he was ready and willing to oblige her, why did she have to pick the most complicated situation?

The realisation made her want to kick herself square in the ass. She had no experience in pleasuring a man, let alone enough to warrant setting such a high expectation for her first time with Naruto.

Regardless, she wouldn't back out now. She looked into his eyes and adverted her gaze just as quickly. She could feel her whole body unbearably heat up with nervousness. That look he was giving her… he was just lying there under her with this expectant look that practically screamed _'Come on, babe, dazzle me!'_

Dazzle him?

Ha!

She was in_ way_ over her head. Everyone she talked to about the whole _concept_ of lovemaking made it sound a little too simple, but now that she was in the particulars of the situation, she knew that it was _all lies_. How anyone managed to be _this_ intimate with anyone else the first time in their lives _boggled_ her mind.

She pouted openly without realising. _'Who am I kidding? I can't do this… maybe I should let him…_'

Naruto noticed her silent struggle. It wasn't too hard to miss considering she hadn't moved in the five minutes since declaring she was going to _rape_ him.

'S_o… so cute,'_ he couldn't help to think as he watched her lower lips stick out slightly. Her eyes solely focused on her hands, as though she was trying to convince them to do _something_. Perhaps he could nudge her in the right direction, he decided, and reached out to her, his fingers brushing her cheek.

The tenderness of his action brought unexpected comfort and silenced the butterflies in her belly. She closed her eyes for a moment, leaning into his touch, hoping that—with that gesture—he'd keep his hand there. However, once she shyly met his eyes, the restless butterflies resumed their anxious fluttering.

Naruto didn't say anything, but… the small loving smile that played on his lips told her almost _everything_ that she needed to know _'It's alright…'_

Hinata took in a slow, _deep_ breath. He had accepted all of her strange behaviour to date; there was no reason to worry about whether or not he realised she didn't have a clue on what she was doing. Actually, she was pretty sure he knew that, and the fact that he was still there with her had was pretty significant.

Naruto's gaze softened when Hinata smiled. All the while he had been watching her, her lips had been trembling and the shaking of her hands was noticeable, but as soon as he touched her, something had changed in her. She was still quite nervous, but now she seemed a little bit more at ease and more determined… determined to do what she claimed she would do no matter what. Still, though, that didn't mean he couldn't help her relax a bit more if he could. He grasped her fingers with his own and brought her hand to his chest, pressing her palm against the middle of his torso.

"Hinata," he whispered.

Her eyes met with his—her blush was burning the skin.

"I'm just as nervous."

Her eyes widened a fraction. Her head shook slightly and a small smile played on her lips.

"T-that's hard to believe," she said playfully, but she could tell he wasn't lying. She could feel it under her touch, the excessive beating of his heart against his ribcage.

"I'm serious." He pressed her hand harder; the beat was erratic. "Just anticipating your touch, your kisses… it always makes me nervous."

"You… you're always so calm," she whispered.

Naruto took in a shaky breath instead, trying to calm a heart that refused to slow down.

"I'm just very good at keeping a straight face." He tried to smile, but he decided to keep himself honest and the smile that adorned his lips wasn't the confident, impish stretch that normally greeted her. For the first time, Hinata was exposed to his shy expression.

He chuckled shyly when she brought her free hand to his lips; her touch was that of a ghost on them.

Despite his assurance that he was just as much of a wreck as she was, she envied the steady confident touch of his hand against her nervous one when he squeezed her hand again in encouragement. Why couldn't her own hands be like that? She _wanted_ them to be like that. She held a frown in check and resisted the urge to stare her hands into submission. This wasn't the time to focus on everything that was going wrong, she needed to see the positives.

And so, with that in mind, she leaned forward. She could see the slight parting of his lips in surprise at the unexpected movement, but she did not let that deter her. She bit her lower lip—her momentum didn't slow down—and her mouth timidly grasped his in a kiss.

_'Yes. This was more like it._'

A small flicker of feminine pride swelled out of her insecurity when Naruto hummed in approval, breathing her in without reservation. Hinata's eyebrows perked up when she felt the rough stubble of his unshaven skin scratch the corner of her mouth as he twisted his head to delve further into the softness of her kiss.

It was strange how, she thought, in just a few seconds, the awkwardness she had been struggling with so much turned out to be quite easy to break.

_'Typical Naruto,'_ she tenderly accused in her head before her tongue flicked out instinctively to moisten her lover's lips. She felt him smile before she deepened the kiss and tentatively explored his mouth. The tips of their tongues met, shyly greeting one another and extracting another hum from the blond.

Naruto's hand slid down from the nape of her neck and his fingers trailed gently down her jaw line. Hinata shifted and his nails accidently dragged against her sensitive skin. The feeling surprised her—goose bumps etching her flesh—and she arched against him as a result.

He hissed, breaking the kiss as he sucked in a breath_. _The feel of her body pressed tightly against him made him tingle and the curves of her breasts against his chest were tantalising.

_'It's just a kiss, you dumb ass, don't lose it!_' he chastised himself, but the thought was soon forgotten when Hinata's lips collided hungrily against his once more, demanding his full attention. He complied. His mouth explored hers quickly and her taste invaded his senses. She moaned into his mouth when his nails dragged again—slowly—and the sensation set her skin on fire.

Hinata's insecure thoughts drifted away with each sound he made. The heat of his skin lingered where ever she moved; it was a fleeting memory carved into her flesh. Her fingers grasped his when he cupped her cheek, and she tightened her grip on them, driving Naruto to want her more.

"Hinata…" her name was a soft sigh on his lips. There was a promise in the words, she could feel it—his breath was hot against her neck, and his lips nipped and bit at her pulse point. She felt her toes curl when his tongue slid slowly down her neck—his rough chin chased it and her skin couldn't decide if she ought to laugh or moan at the sensation. He shifted to lick her sensitive skin again and she trembled in anticipation, biting her lower lip with a nervous energy that couldn't suppress the heat increasing between them.

Her greed to monopolize him betrayed her. Her carefully controlled urges were breaking free and she was willingly free falling into the depths of her lust. Her fingers slipped from his arm to his shoulder and without thinking, Naruto lifted his hips slightly, pressing himself against her sex. The sensation of his erection pressed against her elicited a small surprised gasp from Hinata, and her hands squeezed the flesh of his shoulders. He felt her dip her face at the crook of his neck and retaliated with a quick nibble there. He squeezed his eyes tightly; a groan slipped out when she licked the abused skin.

The sound he made did something inside her. She didn't know what it was, but she wanted him to make more of them.

She nibbled again, daring herself to explore him and drag her teeth across the collarbone. Naruto's lust flared even more—he was shocked to discover this was even possible—when she abandoned his neck, pushed him back against the propped up pillows and took a moment to watch him. She had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary. She chastised for not trying this sooner. As a matter of fact, she had been right in her decision to lead the way in this. She she _really_ loved this unfamiliar, yet intoxicating sense of power. Who could've thought that having such a powerful man at her mercy—watching him desperately yearn for her touch—would instigate such a powerful arousal in both of them? What made the whole experience even more thrilling and exciting was that he was so utterly exposed and vulnerable to her will, and, given her insatiable greed for him, she was determined to take full advantage of this opportunity. So help her God, she _wouldn't_ stop watching him. The way the light from the lamp spilled down on him, exposing every detail she had ever fantasised and dreamt about in the past few weeks—it was all making her dizzy. Her hand slipped down his chest slowly and she watched the goose bumps chase her touch before she slowed at his navel. Her index traced the tattoo there; she could feel the bumps of the old scars hidden under the ink.

Her gaze met his, this time she didn't shy away. Naruto smirked.

She tilted her head sideways a little, trying to figure out his expression. His cheeks were tinged with a flush and his hands were constantly touching something that was hers—her arms, her backside—until he finally he settled on her thighs, gripping them softly to hold her in place as he pushed his erection again against her sex.

She considered letting him take over for a split second—the sensations were quite pleasantly overwhelming—but she rejected that idea and instead rolled her hips to match his demand, letting out a small _Heh_ deviously. Naruto raised a brow and did it again and she shook her head slightly. She wouldn't give in. He, on the other hand, remembered his promise to her, and although he was _very_ inclined to break it, he sighed, giving in… at least for the time being.

Definitely. She definitely understood now _why_ Naruto loved overpowering her so much in this kind of play. Letting her desire run amok was exhilarating.

_'Is this for real?_' She frowned slightly. A part of her wanted to sit back and try to understand why she was acting this way. For a second, she became suddenly uncertain; she wondered if this was really happening or if it was a _really_ powerful hallucination. If she were dreaming, she would be _furious_! As though to make sure, she reached down to his hand and squeezed the flesh there, nearly pinching him.

"Hey, now, not so hard." His hushed voice startled her.

Hinata blushed fiercely once she realised she had acted out her own impulsion. This was definitely not a dream.

"I'm ok with _some_ kinky stuff, but not…"

His words interrupted her inner monologue and her gaze met his, interrupting his amusement.

"S-Sorry…" she apologized sheepishly. A sinful blush dusted her cheeks; the temptation to devour him was too powerful.

Naruto, on the other hand, was swept up by the fierceness of her gaze. Her lust was dripping between them and he reacted immediately. His hands reached around the nape of her neck, pulling her down to his lips. He kissed her deeply, invading her mouth, and she met his fierceness with her own. Her breath caught when she felt the velvet of his tongue lick the exposed skin of her neck. A suck, then another lick travelled towards the dip of her pulse point. His teeth nibbled the length of her exposed flesh while the tip of his nose slid itself against her white ivory skin and met the buttoned edge of her shirt. He felt himself frown. Why was she still wearing it?

Naruto took in a deep breath, ignoring the ludicrous thought that his own shirt was hell-bent on cock blocking him. She squirmed over him, snapping his attention back to her instantly.

His mouth moved along her skin. _'Another taste_,' was all he could think of. She was selfishly having all the fun, and he unconsciously wanted a piece of the action. She felt hot under his touch and his tongue urged her response with another long and slow lick that teased the mounds of her breasts—that one drew out a soft delicious moan from her lips.

"Na-Naruto—st-stop!" She pushed him away. Her skin was on fire—the blood rushing madly in her ears—and she had almost let him take over.

"Wha…?" He blinked, his brain was unusually slow, or to be more precise, too focused on regaining some control.

"I said _I_ was doing this." She was breathing heavily. Was her body really pulsing from just that? _Christ,_ she knew she wanted him, but to be _this_ vulnerable against him?

"Oh, right." He shook his head slightly. His hand moved across his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was annoyed with himself for letting his urges take over. _'Shit… if she keeps this up…'_

Hinata took advantage of his distraction, dipping her head towards his chest. There was nothing shy about her touch this time—Naruto could feel her fingers everywhere on him. She explored his arms, his sides, she grabbed his hips and her nose lingered over his navel. He hissed silently; the friction was unexpected and he arched his back slightly. Hinata did not notice, however. She was entirely focused on the task at hand. She shifted again, moving further down his legs. Naruto felt her breasts slip down against his erection for a brief moment while she moved, and he closed his eyes tightly at the very thought. But then, she was _still_ wearing far too much clothing for his liking.

'_That shirt needs to go, pronto_.' He reached for it, his fingers searching for the buttons but Hinata pushed his hand away, twice, before looking up.

"Naruto…" she mumbled in warning, her mouth busy with trying to find a new sensitive spot on him.

He huffed.

He wanted to _see_ her skin_,_ to touch her—it was a serious crime to have her clothes deny him his right as a full-blooded male. Patience wasn't something he was known for, but all thoughts of retaliation were promptly dropped when he felt her move back up his torso and her teeth surrounded his right nipple.

"Uh, Hinata…" was all he could manage before she tentatively bit down and let her tongue explore the nub.

He stilled._ 'Oh…'_

The taste of his skin invaded her senses. She breathed him in and licked again, this time with a bit a more confidence—her curious nature forging on. She let the nipple go for a moment, her breath cooling the damp trail she left behind before her nose brushed against it. She tried to ignore the feel of Naruto's hands sliding up her back and the way his fingers were tangling in her hair at the base of her neck.

She pulled at it between her lips. The tip of her tongue flicked across the rough skin, eliciting a groan from his lips. She had found it, the spot that gave her access to that low tone, lust-filled voice.

She nipped at him and suckled the skin below the nipple, ignoring his hands now pulling slightly at her hair. Her hands had slipped down to his navel, exploring the skin as her lips followed them. Her breath cooled the heat of his need and kept his thoughts scattered.

Another groan escaped him and her mind whirled. It was hard to believe that _she_ was making him feel this way and it was unbelievably sexy. Her brows knitted together, unsure on what to do next but it wasn't long before she quickly figured it out. Her index slipped across the elastic edge of his boxers. She quickly looked up and met Naruto's gaze, his eyebrows were raised slightly, as though he wasn't expecting her to be this forward.

_'This will do.' _Her mouth opened and she quickly pressed her lips against his navel, sucking the skin softly. Her tongue twirled, her hair fell across his belly, and suddenly he could only _feel_ what she was doing.

Naruto stiffened suddenly, barely managing to tell his brain to push away the feel of her velvet tongue on him. _'What is she…'_ He barely managed to finish the thought before he felt her hands hook on to the elastic of his boxers and pause long enough to gather her courage, and began pulling them down.

Her eyes eagerly swallowed every detail she exposed slowly. Naruto could feel every breath coming from her, his stomach contracted, twitching in anticipation of what she was doing. She stopped once the first signs of blond curls peered at her from the boxer line—her shyness instantly crawling back to the surface. This task seemed like too much bravado and she could sense a deep resentful frustration from deep within herself, why was this so hard?

"Do you want me to…?" he asked, his voice thick with lust.

"N-no." She cursed her stutter. She hadn't spent all these weeks fantasising about this particular part of his body only to deny herself the chance of a lifetime because of a_ little_ embarrassment!

She pulled down, quickly, and she was rewarded with something even more beautiful than she had anticipated. Her gaze eagerly drank every detail.

He was… _large_. She bit her lower lip but she couldn't decide if her feeling was anticipation or apprehension. Her cheeks warmed at the thought of touching him—_'It's anticipation, definitively…'_

She decided that it was time she acted on her impulses—and did just that.

Her index reached out and slid down the length tentatively. It barely brushed the skin, but she could tell by Naruto's barely quiet gasp that it was very sensitive. That, and the fact that it kept twitching more eagerly the more she explored. She wiggled further down on his thighs, her eyes never leaving her new favourite body part. Once she settled, she touched the tip curiously. Her fingers wrapped gently around the shaft, wanting to grasp his size.

His arousal was hot under her touch. It had a sweet, musky smell she couldn't seem to get enough of. She brought her face closer to him, her hand slipping down. She heard Naruto grunt and watched his hands grip the sheet next to his hips.

_'Shit…!' _He cursed in his head. As a matter of fact, he was having trouble keeping his thoughts clear. '_This is going to be a short display of manliness…'_

Hinata, however, was completely oblivious to his struggle. She narrowed her eyes a moment, discussing her level of bravery when EroHinata decided to give her a little push—she licked the tip.

Naruto, for all it was worth, simply _lost_ his mind at that instant. He hadn't expected her to do _that_.

And, well, if _that_ was what she had in mind, then there was no way he was going to last, let alone keep his promise—but then again, how bad could it be if he thoroughly distracted her from that little fact? She was_ probably_ going to be mad about it for a bit, but it would be worth it for sure. _'It's her own fault'_, he justified to himself. It was taking everything in him to not flip her over onto her back and teach her what all this _touching_ was doing to him. She cupped his balls suddenly, and without warning, he let out a guttural growl.

'_That's it_,' he thought. '_She's had it coming for a while now._'

Hinata looked up at him, surprised to hear him make such a sound. His face was flushed, his eyes almost molten with desire. There was something dangerous in this particular situation that had suddenly set her ablaze. His hands took her by her arms, pulled her up, and flipped her on her back in one swift motion.

"Naruto, I'm the one that's supposed to—" she protested, but he wouldn't hear any of it.

"I can't hold back anymore…" he interrupted almost desperately against her neck, sucking the flesh without mercy. There was a sudden violent tug on the shirt she wore, and the buttons popped and shot across the bed. Once the shirt lay open, exposing her breasts, Naruto pushed the offending material off her.

"Finally!" he exclaimed with such a finality that she merely blinked in surprise. Her bra met a similar fate—the clasp snapped apart in his urgency to strip her once and for all.

Hinata cried out when his index and thumb found her nipple and pinched her. He ground against her and a slow mesmerising groan escaped him again before cursing out her panties.

"_Why_ are you still wearing these?" He quickly grabbed them, pulled them off without much of a pause before smothering her confusion with a kiss that made her toes curl.

He slipped a hand between her legs, fingers easily gliding between the slick folds of her labia, and the palm of his hand pressing hard against her clit. Her eyes snapped open when he pushed two fingers inside her—his invasion was sudden but she welcomed it; it wasn't the first time he'd entered her this way. She met its intensity and gasped into his mouth when she felt his palm moving erratically against her clit. Her hand gripped his elbow, hanging on for dear life, knowing full well how effective those fingers were at extracting such delicate sensations from her.

She moaned, squirmed and squealed under his touch, but he was relentless. She broke the kiss—her hips were twitching every time he pressed against her sensitive nub.

"Don't… _Don't_…. st…!" she tried to finish her sentence, but he shifted his weight between her legs and felt the wet tip of his erection rub against her thigh. Naruto let out a groan at the feel of it, his voice was hoarse and strangely erotic and she fell further away from coherence.

'_Fuck.'_ He could barely focus. He moved away from her face, his lips devouring everything in its path. He nipped the top of her breasts; there was nothing gentle about it. She let out a small blissful cry when his lips pinched down on her nipple and his tongue flicked slowly against the pink swollen flesh. Another high-pitched squeal escaped his lover's mouth when he entered her with a third finger; her vaginal walls squeezed instinctively against the intrusion.

Oh _God_.

Naruto looked up as he continued his slow assault on his lover's breasts. He could see Hinata's eyes tightly shut, her brows unable to decide if they wanted to frown or raise high under her bangs. Her cheeks were burning with a blush that screamed her pleasure. Without thought, he dipped his head and nipped at the bone of her collar, licking the skin at the pulse point, and worked his way up.

"Ah…!"

Hinata's low moan came when she felt his fingers slipped out of her folds and found the hood of her clit. They moved in circles she couldn't follow, couldn't anticipate, and the build in the pit of her stomach was reaching a breaking point.

"Slow down, babe," he hissed between clenched teeth, but her rocking movement was rubbing against his erection and making it very difficult to slow them down and try to subdue her unconscious humping of his hand.

The irony of _him_ telling _her_ to slow down wasn't lost on Naruto, but this was spiralling out of control quickly. He didn't want to fuck her like an animal; he wanted to _love_ her.

"I…I-" Hinata tried to listen, she _really_ did, but she was lost on the feeling that was pulsing through her. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears; her breath was heaving as her heels dug into the back of his thighs. It wasn't enough to just touch him, to kiss and taste him—she wanted him inside her, deep within her to satisfy this thirst, this lust that was completely controlling her.

"Damn…!" Naruto felt his eyes roll backwards. Her pussy was making a wet smacking sound as she tried to hump his hand faster, and the realisation that she was completely turned on made his balls tighten.

Hinata's back arched almost violently when he twisted his fingers on her clit, her thighs shook as she squeezed them together to control the tremor that was building, but Naruto's torso was in the way. She squirmed; her hands squeezed on his shoulders and pushed them up at the same time.

"Na-Naru…!" her voice was husky, heavy with lust.

It made Naruto's head spin. It wasn't rocket science; he knew what she wanted without her even having to say anything.

Naruto settled between her legs, his lips hungry for another kiss. He slipped his tongue deep, possessing her mouth. He pushed her legs further apart with his knees and broke the harsh kiss that had swollen her lips in its intensity.

The tip of his cock hit her slick entrance and Hinata froze at the sensation. This was it—this is what she had been waiting for. From all her experience with him and the constant teases over several weeks, it was no secret that his fingers had only created this strange endless void that needed to be filled with him. She could feel the tip sliding in slowly, carefully. Her hands folded behind his neck, pulling him down towards her, but he was resisting her—concentrating on getting her used to him.

_'Too slow… much, much too slow,'_ she was far too impatient; she could almost hear EroHinata cackling in the back of her mind.

Hinata sucked in a breath as he filled her, stretching around his shaft. He kissed her lips, whispered her name between nibbles and licks on her neck to her to distract her before sliding in suddenly to the tilt. She gasped loudly, her fingers dug at his neck and she stilled.

It didn't hurt, and that surprised her, for she had expected it to. In fact she read that it _would_.

Naruto watched her expression. He wasn't sure if she was okay. Her eyes were closed—a frown was quite evident— but she did not move.

"Are you okay?" Naruto nuzzled her nose and kissed the tip before she opened her eyes and blinked.

"Y-yes," she stuttered..

Naruto smirked at the sight that was under him; she was unbelievably sexy. He leaned forward, nipping her ear.

"You're beautiful," he whispered, surprising his lover before he pulled back slightly, moving inside her. Her breath hitched and Naruto bit his lip before dropping his forehead against the pillow behind her.

"You feel so good, Hinata," he mumbled against the crook of her neck. He pushed forward in a slow, torturous thrust. He hissed when she let out a moan. His slow thrusts sped Hinata's heartbeat, and her hands slid down from his neck to his back. Her fingers pinched him impatiently.

He squeezed his eyes shut as his cock twitched inside her.

Her hands slid over his backside, pushing him in deeper. Naruto snapped his head up from the crook of her neck as she gasped, her eyes meeting his in surprise. There, that was the spot she had been seeking.

He raised a brow, smirking as Hinata's expression melted into one of bliss. Her hips rolled under him, catching him off-guard. He began to pump his hips, loving the way he could feel Hinata's breasts rubbing against his chest. Hinata pressed her fingers on his rear more firmly—her hips meeting his every thrust.

This wasn't going well; he had already forgotten to take his time, but such was life. He sped up—a hand slipped under her butt to bring her even closer to him. Naruto groaned, her slick pussy was swallowing him in deeper. He was barely holding on.

Hinata suddenly hissed, her hands released his ass and her fingers dragged across the muscles harshly, he could feel the skin of his back aching but it only brought him closer to losing his careful control.

"Ah…!" Naruto arched his back. Goose bumps trailed her touch and his skin felt like it was on fire.

"Stop doing that," he warned her, frowning.

She ignored him, dragging her nails again. Apparently Naruto had a thing for nails on his back and this made her smirk.

He sucked in a breath and momentarily lost control, thrusting hard and fast. Hinata's voice suddenly became loud, knocking him back into reality. His hips bucked, slowing to a crawl.

"St-stop!" he stuttered at her.

Hinata blinked, her eyes meeting his for a moment.

"We have to do this slow, or else I'm not going to be able to—"

She kissed his mouth shut. The feel of him sliding inside her was addicting and she wanted it all in again. The pulse was getting stronger every second.

Naruto grunted, his hands squeezed her hips tightly and he pushed harder into her, suddenly filling her to the tilt once more.

Hinata gasped. Her belly was pooling with a sensation she was familiar with, but it felt different at the same time. He began moving faster and her legs moved from his thighs to his hips, her fingers moving to his back to pull him closer.

Naruto openly moaned this time. Hinata's panting was back, her eyes were tightly shut and she was consumed with the feeling he was building within her. She couldn't stop the sound coming out of her mouth no matter how embarrassing it was and it only encouraged Naruto to thrust harder. He grabbed her ass, fingers digging in her flesh. Sweat began sliding down his nose.

'_God damn, this is going too fast,'_ he thought, but before he could slow down, Hinata suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck again, and in a broken voice whispered to him "Oh… oh! Naruto, right… right… ah!"

He couldn't slow down at this point, and Hinata couldn't keep the feeling away anymore. Her hips moved even harder against Naruto, following his lead—the pulse was peaking.

"Let…" she heard him whispering something in her ear, but it was lost to her; she couldn't think anymore.

There was an explosion of white behind her eyelids. Her belly tightened, her thighs were shaking and her throat felt suddenly raw. Her walls squeezed down on Naruto's shaft as he moved hard inside her, his own groans and moans mixing in with hers. She was barely descending from her climax when she felt Naruto's body tense. His face buried against her neck as he slammed into her quickly until he finally stopped.

He groaned deeply and collapsed on top of her, their heaving breaths mixing together. He then leaned his forehead against hers, their eyes meeting once again before Naruto smiled sheepishly. Hinata grinned.

"You broke your promise," she accused breathlessly.

"True," he blew out a breath slowly, trying to slow down his heartbeat, "but you were being a horrible tease." He kissed her again, this time softly. His fingers found hers and tightly wound themselves together.

"Hinata…" he spoke with heaving breaths still, but it was difficult to sound calm when your body felt like it was on fire.

"Hmm?" Her fingers were travelling up and down his back, basking in the afterglow.

"I love you."

The heiress blinked, stunned by his revelation.

"I…I-" she stuttered.

Naruto grinned, enjoying this side of his lover. She was never one to be at a loss of words but here she was, completely dumbfounded. He kissed her again—her shock barely subsided before he distracted her with his very nimble fingers on her body.

Needless to say, the silent vibration of Naruto's cell was completely missed.

* * *

**Time to disappear!  
R&R**

**TBC When? Only time will tell~  
**


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